Angel Tears
by YaoiK
Summary: Four months following Ren Mihashi's kidnapping, the young pitcher is found and returned home, much to the relief of his family and team. However, he refuses to discuss what had occurred during those four long months, and those months have changed him severely. But with the arrival of several strange older boys, the answers start to reveal themselves on their own.
1. Chapter 1

"Ren…" a soft voice whimpered. "Ren, please wake up…"

"Mihashi-san?" a white-coated doctor opened the door, allowing light to stream into the dark hospital room. The woman in question looked up from her chair beside the only hospital bed in that room. It held her teenage son Ren, who lay in a peaceful slumber. The doctor flipped on the lights and the fluorescent bulb flickered above their heads. "It is not wise to sit here in the dark. It could damage your eyes."

"I'm sorry…" she muttered. "I didn't think about getting up and turning them on…"

"I understand your concern." The doctor said, picking up and flipping through the set of papers that had sat in the box at the foot of Ren's bed. "But his condition is good, save for the injuries he has sustained. We just have to wait until he wakes up on his own. There's nothing else we can do."

"…But it's been two days already…" Mrs. Mihashi's eyes welled up with fresh tears. "And he still hasn't woken up…"

"I know." The doctor returned the papers to the box. "But that means he's taking the time to heal himself. I'm sure he will wake up soon enough. However, in the meantime, your husband is here to pick you up and take you home."

"But what about Ren!" Mrs. Mihashi jumped up. The doctor put a hand on her shoulder and gently led her out.

"If there's any movement at all, we'll be sure to let you know immediately." He said. "Though for the time being, you might want to call his school and gather any materials he may need to catch up on his schoolwork."

Mrs. Mihashi nodded slowly. "Right… and his… his baseball team, I need to call them too! He's been missing for months, and just finding him is still good news! Though it might be a while for him to catch up… R-Regardless! I should at least let everyone know!"

"That's the spirit." The doctor closed the door behind them. "And don't worry, Mihashi-san, we'll be sure to call you as soon as we see any progress."

"Thank you very much!" Mrs. Mihashi bowed before hurrying down the hallway. It was very late; she hoped the other mothers were awake so they could know that Ren will be okay!

As they drove home, both of Ren's parents remembered back to that night four months ago. Ren had come home from baseball practice, worn out as he normally was, and was going to take a bath before dinner as he usually did. Both his mother and father were present in the kitchen when they heard his scream from upstairs. His father reacted immediately, while his mother took a moment to shut off the stove before following. When they reached their son's room, all they found were his baseball gear and uniform, along with his school books and utensils, and the towel he had been drying his hair with not a moment before. But there was one thing missing, and that was their son. They checked the bathroom and the rest of the second floor before accepting what they assumed to be the case.

Mihashi Ren was missing, taken right from his room on the second floor.

Of course, they notified the police immediately, but when they arrived, there was no trace of any suspicious vehicles or people in the area. Regardless, the authorities placed him on the missing person's list, and sent out a warning to the area telling families to lock their windows and for children not to go out alone. There was nothing else they could do.

Mrs. Mihashi could recall crying throughout the experience. Ren was her only son, and still just a boy. She could only imagine what would happen to him as the days slowly passed by one by one. The rest of the neighborhood sent their condolences, and the Mihashis had the support of the other families of Ren's baseball teammates. And of course, they weren't the only ones not taking Ren's disappearance very well. His entire team was devastated with the loss of their ace, however, thanks to Yuuichirou Tajima's frequent pep talks as Coach Momoe's tenacity in keeping the boys in working order, the team decided on dedicating every game, and every win, to Ren until his return. It made Mrs. Mihashi glad to know that they weren't giving up on him, and she knew that once Ren came back, things would finally go back to what they used to be like.

But she was wrong with that assumption.

When the two arrived home, Mrs. Mihashi immediately grabbed the phone. Mrs. Abe would be the first person she called, seeing as their sons formed the battery on their baseball team and were thus very close. She tapped her fingers anxiously as she waited to see if she was awake to pick up the phone. Eventually, after about seven rings, a voice that could only be Mrs. Abe answered the phone.

"Good evening, this is the Abe residence." She said. "Who may I ask is calling?

"Y-Yes, Abe-san?" Mrs. Mihashi said carefully.

"Oh, Mihashi-san?" the surprise was obvious in Mrs. Abe's voice. "How strange for you to call so late, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Mrs. Mihashi said. "My apologies if I woke you at all…"

"No, no, it's alright." Mrs. Abe replied. "I'm staying up because my husband is working late tonight, and I wanted to make sure he had something to eat before bed when he comes home."

"That's very sweet of you!" Mrs. Mihashi was always amazed with Mrs. Abe's kindness. How admirable! "Oh! I better not forget what I called you for! It's great news!"

"What happened?" Mrs. Abe asked on the other end.

"Ren's been found!" Mrs. Mihashi exclaimed, already shaking with excitement. Everyone's going to be so glad to know that he was going to be okay! "He was hurt and is still asleep, but the doctor says he's going to be okay!"

"That's fantastic!" Mrs. Abe replied. "Oh, but Takaya just went to bed, I shouldn't wake him up to tell him…"

"I'll wake him up for ya mom!" her youngest son Shun randomly appeared and disappeared from the doorway leading to the hallway, running to his older brother's room.

"Shun, he's had a long day of practice, let him sleep!" his mother called after him, but she was a second too late, for Shun had already burst into his brother's room.

"Nii-chan! Nii-chan! Wake up!" he exclaimed, bouncing from one foot to the other. Abe groaned in protest and merely turned over under his covers. Shun fumed. "Come on, nii-chan! They found Mihashi! You know: your ace!" At this, Takaya Abe jumped from his bed.

"They what?!" he exclaimed.

"Mom's on the phone with his mom right now!" Shun pointed out the door, and immediately, the catcher was sprinting down the hall, nearly skidding past the door his mother was standing in, still holding the phone.

"Is that true mom?" he asked. His mother nodded, and the teen could feel excitement, fear and an entire slew of emotions just build up inside, matching the intensity of the despair he had felt at the first news of Ren's disappearance. He tried to swallow down his tears as he asked his mother for the phone. Her mother smiled and handed him the phone, heading down the hall to put Shun back to bed.

"H-Hello?" Abe mentally smacked himself for the stutter, but the woman on the other end didn't seem to take notice.

"Good evening, Abe-kun." Mrs. Mihashi said. "I'm sorry for calling so late, did I wake you?"

"It's fine." Abe said. "But… did they really find him?"

"Yes, from what I've been told, an officer found him a few days ago and brought him to the hospital." She explained. "He wasn't terribly injured, just a lot of scratches and bruises, and no broken bones were reported either. I went in and honestly didn't think about calling anyone since I was waiting for him to wake up… But the doctor says he's going to be okay, he's only been sleeping so long because he's healing. The hospital said they'll call me if there's any progress with his condition."

"Have you called anyone else?" Abe asked.

"Oh, not yet. But it's late and they're all probably asleep by now." Mrs. Mihashi said. "Do you think you could tell your teammates tomorrow? I wouldn't want to wake anyone else..."

"Don't worry, I definitely will." Abe said. "And maybe we can all visit him when he wakes up. Would that be okay?"

"Of course." Mrs. Mihashi smiled to herself. "I'll keep you posted then."

"Thank you…" Abe sighed. His racing heart was starting to slow down. Ren was okay… Ren was going to be okay. "Thank you very much…"

"It's quite alright, Abe-kun." Mrs. Mihashi said. "I'll let you return to bed then."

"Okay…" Abe nodded and the two hung up simultaneously. At that moment, Abe's father strode in, looking very tired. He raised an eyebrow at his teary-eyed teenage son.

"Something wrong, Takaya?" he asked. Abe flinched and rubbed his eyes furiously.

"Nothing's wrong, good night!" he said, before leaving down the hallway to his room. _Ren is okay. Ren is okay._

Nishiura's catcher didn't get much sleep that night. He was too busy thinking about what had happened to their pitcher over the past four months. What happened to get him hurt like his mother described? Was he really going to be okay? Has he changed over the time he was gone? All those questions managed to dizzy him into a fitful sleep, but it was enough to give him energy for school the next day.

Time to tell the team the news.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Suyama." Sakaeguchi got the shortstop's attention before class began.

"Oh, morning." He said. "What's up?"

"Did you see Abe earlier?" Sakaeguchi asked. Suyama shook his head and asked why. "It's nothing. He just looked weird that's all."

"Weird how?"

"He looked a cross between happy and terrified." Sakaeguchi tried to describe it. Suyama raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, it looked that weird."

"That definitely doesn't sound like him." Suyama said. "I wonder what's up with him."

"Well, neither of us sees him during the day, so we'll have to wait until practice tonight to ask him." Sakaeguchi said. Suyama agreed. With that, the morning bell tolled and everyone took their seats. And everyone who saw Abe that morning and throughout the rest of that day were all curious as to why he looked like he did: both excited and scared at the same time.

The reasons for his strange facial expression were obvious once you knew what happened. The catcher was ultimately ecstatic that their ace pitcher had been found and was going to be alright, but the dizzying questions of what had happened and if Mihashi had changed at all were enough to make him exceedingly nervous. Especially one question that distracted him each time it passed through his head. Would Mihashi still be able to pitch once he was healed? Abe damn well hoped so.

The day passed quickly, and it wasn't long until the Nishiura baseball team all gathered at the diamond for practice. Shiga-sensei had gotten them into the routine of praying for Mihashi's safe return, so Abe was going to use that moment to spring the news to the others. However, thanks to his uncommon expression, the others were already well curious as to what was going on with him. Tajima was ultimately the first person to bring it up.

"Hey Abe, what's with your face?" he asked bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Abe asked in return, not previously realizing just how goofy he looked.

"I mean," Tajima tried to choke back a laugh but ultimately failed, "heh, y-your face." Tajima couldn't hold back, he was immediately on the ground, howling with laughter. "Your face!"

"Just _what_ is with my face?!" Abe exclaimed, his normal scowl returning to his face.

"You lo-lo-looked like M-Mihash-shi!" Tajima gasped for breath. However, once he realized what he had said, he noticed the air become gloomy. "Oh shit. Sorry, guys."

"It's fine Tajima, you were only being honest." Sakaeguchi said.

"But on the topic of Mihashi," Abe spoke up, "I have some news." Everyone's eyes were on him, waiting for whatever news he had about their missing pitcher. Abe stood strong and clenched his fists.

"They found him." He said. "He's in the hospital, but they say everything is going to be okay."

Instantaneously, the entire team broke out in tears and cheers of joy. Those four months had been grueling for them, their minds heavy with thoughts of bad outcomes, mainly the death of their pitcher. But knowing he was back, and going to be okay, tears were inevitable.

"So can we go visit him now?!" Tajima jumped up from the ground. "We should visit him!"

"By what his mom told me, he's still unconscious." Abe said. "But she said that if there were any changes, the hospital would call her."

"Actually, I think paying a visit to Mihashi is a good idea." Coach Momoe spoke up.

"What good would that do?" Abe asked. "He's still asleep."

"Well then here's an update." Coach Momoe held up her phone, showing a recent text. "Mihashi's been awake for a good two hours. And he's asked for us several times already." Abe said nothing, both fighting the urge to shout in excitement and wondering why the hell he wasn't told about this sooner! "Now, anyone up for a field trip?"

"Yeah!" the team exclaimed.

Ren was okay. Ren was okay!

Lively with excitement to have their pitcher back, the team practically raced to the hospital. They crowded the reception desk and all asked for Mihashi.

"Mihashi Ren is in Room 307." The receptionist replied. "But we can't have all of you go in at one time. Since his mother is already present in his room and there are twelve of you total, just divide yourselves into groups of three and go in one group at a time. Alright?"

"Okay!" the team agreed and headed up to the third floor. When they reached Mihashi's door, Tajima took charge of assigning groups.

"Coach, Shino'oka-chan and Shiga-sensei will go in first!" he said. "Then Nishihiro, Oki and Suyama, then Mizutani, Izumi and Sakaeguchi, and then finally me, Hanai and Abe! Sound like a plan?"

"Sounds good to me." Coach Momoe agreed. "You guys behave out here while we're inside. Don't cause trouble for the nurses and other patients, you hear?"

"Yes Coach!" the team agreed, and stayed close to the adjoining wall while they waited.

Inside the hospital room, the first group found Ren lying at an angle on his bed, propped up by a few pillows. He looked extremely tired, his skin pale and his eyes dull. However, he smiled when they entered. He was still alive and kicking.

"Hi Coach…" he mumbled. "Shino'oka-chan, Shiga-sensei…"

"Glad to see you're okay, Mihashi." Coach Momoe smiled. "You've worried everyone with your disappearance, you know."

"Yeah… but," Mihashi adjusted his position so he could sit up a bit, "but I'm okay. And… and though… and though it was hard, I… I managed to practice. I managed to practice my pitching!"

"Really? That's fantastic!" Coach Momoe's smile only got wider with her excitement. That was great to hear! Mihashi nodded, albeit weakly.

"It was… a lot of work…" he said. "But… But if I can get better quick, I know… I know I can pitch!"

"Just follow whatever instructions the doctors give you and I'm sure you'll be back on the mound in no time!" Shiga-sensei gave a thumbs-up in encouragement.

"Oh, if only we had known you were awake sooner, we would've gone and brought some flowers for you." Shino'oka looked around the plain looking room.

"There's still time." Coach Momoe said. "We can always hand them to one of the others and they can leave them in here."

"I-Is that alright?" Shino'oka looked to Mihashi, who nodded in recognition. A smile spread across her face and she nodded in agreement. Flowers it was!

"So just make sure you don't overwork yourself while you're healing," Coach Momoe said, "and I'm sure you'll be back on the mound before you know it!"

"R-Right!" Mihashi agreed, and cracked a smile as the three left, the next group quickly coming in. Nishihiro, Oki and Suyama filed in quietly, and bowed to Mihashi's mother before speaking.

"You doing okay, man?" Oki asked. "You've been gone a long time."

"Yeah, I-I'm okay." Mihashi said, knowing very well how much he had worried them. "And I don't intend on going anywhere anytime soon so… I'll be sure to get better and pitch again!"

"That's good to hear." Oki was really glad to hear that. He and Hanai had been altering as pitcher for all the games they had since Mihashi's disappearance, and he was glad that once he was back on the mound, he could have a break from pitching.

"How long do you think it'll be before you're back in games?" Suyama asked. Mihashi shrugged a bit.

"I need to ask the doctor when he comes by..." He said. "It'll probably be a few weeks since I didn't have any really major problems… maybe a month at most."

"Well just be sure to rest up." Nishihiro smiled. "We hope you get better real soon."

"Thanks guys…" Mihashi smiled in return. "I really appreciate it."

As the groups alternated again, Mihashi absentmindedly rubbed the inside of his right wrist. He had to be careful to keep it facing down…

"It's great to see you again, Mihashi!" Sakaeguchi grinned. "We were really worried!"

"I think he knows that by now." Izumi said bluntly. Mihashi nodded slightly, but smiled just the same. He was just glad none of the guys were mad at him for being gone for so long…

"So just how hurt are you?" Mizutani asked. Mihashi shrugged.

"The doctor says I'm not hurt that badly," he answered, "and I don't really feel much pain to be honest… But we'll have to wait for my next check-up later today to determine how long I'll be here and how hurt I am."

"Well you look pretty good, asides from the fact you look white as a sheet." Izumi said. "Don't get sick on us, alright?"

"I'll try my best…" Mihashi said.

"It would probably be best if he just stays home for at least a couple of days after he's let out of the hospital," Mihashi's mother spoke up, "just to make sure he's alright and to give him a chance to catch up on his schoolwork."

"Oh, I can get his work." Izumi said. "Since we're in the same class."

"Would you?" Mihashi's mother smiled thankfully. "That'd be very much appreciated Izumi-kun."

"It's no problem." Izumi said.

"For the time being, Mihashi should just focus on getting better." Sakaeguchi smiled. "And we'll be sure to help him at school and on the field once he's back!"

"Thanks guys…" Mihashi smiled.

"No need to thank us." Mizutani said. "We're your team, and we're all glad that our ace pitcher is back."

Mihashi felt extremely happy as the group alternated one last time. He was glad no one was mad at him… and they were all willing to help him with the work that he missed… Hopefully he hadn't fallen _too_ far behind…

"For you." A large bouquet of pink carnations was shoved into Mihashi's face by none other than Tajima, the cleanup with a giant grin on his face. "We hope you're feeling better, Mihashi."

"Yeah, I'm okay." Mihashi said, taking the bouquet. "I wasn't too badly hurt when they found me… just some scratches and bruises. And… A-And Abe?"

"What?" Abe raised an eyebrow.

"I… I managed to practice my-my pitching!" Mihashi said. "I-I can still pitch when I get out!"

"While that is a good thing that you're confident that you're in a good enough condition to be pitching, that's not what we have to focus on," Abe said. "We need to make sure you're regular in weight and strength-wise. They haven't weighed you yet, have they?" Mihashi gulped. He knew he had lost a pretty large amount of weight over the past four months… Food wasn't exactly the most abundant there… He shook his head in response to Abe's question, and the catcher nodded.

"We'll have to go about figuring out a plan to help you get back to regular weight." He said. "And then we'll ease you back onto the pitcher's mound, alright?" Mihashi nodded and Tajima started jumping up and down excitedly, waving his arms.

"Guess what?" he asked. Mihashi barely said the word 'what' before Tajima rushed to him.

"We've had a few games while you were gone, but we won most of them!" he said. "And we all dedicated our wins to you until you got back! And you know what's cool? We won seven games and then you came back! Isn't that so cool?! Talk about lucky!" Tajima's infectious smile spread to Mihashi, and the pitcher held the flowers tightly in hand.

"C'mon you three, it's time to head back to practice!" Coach Momoe called from the hall. "You didn't expect us to be staying here all day, did you?" Groans could be heard from the other players; Tajima laughed.

"Alright, we're comin'." He grinned, waving goodbye to Mihashi as he shoved Hanai and Abe out the door. "Bye Mihashi!"

"Bye guys!" Mihashi beamed, waving with his right hand, some color returning to his face. The three froze, staring at Mihashi. Mihashi paused before realizing that his wrist was exposed, and smacked it down onto the blanket before looking away from them. They saw it…

…_Was that a tattoo_?

* * *

Aaaaaah, sorry for not updating as fast as I had hoped  
My computer got a virus and wiped most of my files, so I had to rewrite this part.

Next part will be just as mild, but after awhile the rating will definitely have to go up.

Reviews are well-appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Abe was immediately at Mihashi's side, prying the pitcher's arm off the blanket. Mihashi had no strength to fight back, so Abe was quickly able to get a clear view of the black 1 on Mihashi's right wrist.

"The hell is this?!" he exclaimed, looking at his pitcher. Mihashi collected his strength to pull his arm away.

"It's nothing!" the blonde exclaimed. "The team is leaving, just go!"

Abe reeled at Mihashi's surprisingly loud voice. It wasn't like Mihashi to shout, and while he wanted to ask where and why he had gotten that tattoo, he didn't want to upset the pitcher and cause a scene. So without a word, he and the rest of the team left.

Over the next month, each member of the Nishiura team made visits to Mihashi as the pitcher was preparing to leave the hospital. His injuries were minor enough that he didn't need excessive amounts of treatment, but he was ordered to make visits to the hospital regularly. No one on the team was told why. When Mihashi returned to practice, Abe made no attempt to ask about the tattoo, seeing as Mihashi always tried to keep it hidden from everyone. And even after Mihashi was back, no one really mentioned it, even if they saw it clear as day. But once Mihashi was out of the hospital, things were definitely different than how they used to be.

For one thing, Mihashi had become very shy (or even shyer if you really thought about it), mainly about changing around other people. He would either wait for everyone to finish changing and leave, or hide so he could change as well.

Secondly, his appetite seemed to shrink, and from what the team heard, his sleeping patterns were all over the place. That in particular really pissed Abe off, seeing as Mihashi was supposed to be getting back to his normal weight. The pitcher had weighed in at 45.4 kilograms at the hospital, and Abe was set on making sure he made it to at _least_ 50 again.

And finally, much to the team's confusion and concern, Mihashi started to become snappy, with an increased amount of profanity coming from his mouth. It was probably on impulse and he would immediately apologize afterwards, but how he could swear without missing a beat was really worrying the team.

However, as Mihashi rejoined the team and their intense training schedule, the rest of the team eventually accepted the new Mihashi as the status quo, and began to get used to his new mannerisms.

But there was one thing none of them could just leave alone.

It was during a hyped up practice game against a neighboring high school. While it was usual for a practice game to be a little less intense than a normal game, apparently the other school made it a big deal, and invited most of the school to come and watch. With this pressure, Nishiura's team decided to get a little serious, just so they didn't end up looking stupid.

By the bottom of the ninth, Nishiura was up one run at 3 to 2, and the team was starting to get backed into a corner. It had been thanks to Tajima that they scored that third run, because in the bottom of the eighth, the other team had hit all of Mihashi's breaking balls and ended up with their second run. Mihashi had been throwing excellently until then, and now Abe was trying to figure out what to do. What pitch combination would bring momentum back to their side?!

It was during a time out after the first hitter had gotten on base that Mihashi mentioned it.

"I've got another pitch." He said.

"…What?" the majority of the infielders looked at him with surprise.

"What do you mean another pitch?" Abe asked.

"I learned a new pitch on the side." Mihashi answered. "And I think it's what we need to finish this without giving up another run."

"And what kind of pitch are you talking about?" Abe crossed his arms. "Is it a breaking ball?"

"I don't know what you'd label it as." Mihashi said. "And I don't really care. You've caught for Haruna in the past, so I have no doubt that you can catch it. And before you even ask, it has gone to every section of the strike-zone, so I know how to control it. Do you want to use it or not?"

Abe didn't comment on Mihashi's tone, and reluctantly agreed before the infielders returned to their positions. Using Haruna as a comparison to describe this new pitch of his made Abe think Mihashi was just being cocky.

But he was easily proved wrong.

When the second batter strode up to the plate and took his stance, Abe gave the sign for Mihashi's new pitch. He left it up to Mihashi to choose its placement.

On the mound, Mihashi took a deep breath, planting his feet on the rubber, the toes of his shoes facing third base. He stared at the catcher's mitt, never taking his eyes off it as he started a different windup for this new pitch. His left leg went straight up while his right hand with the ball went down towards his thigh. As his leg fell to the ground, his arms swung up and around, using his entire shoulder to launch the ball towards the catcher.

As his grip remained tight around the baseball, Mihashi remembered those dark nights, where he would practice this new pitch with a few acquaintances observing. They had taught him to determine when to release the ball from his grip, and it was all on the timing to determine as to which section the ball hit.

The moment the ball left Mihashi's hand, he knew the trajectory was perfect, as he had practiced throwing to that same spot hundreds of times back then to perfect the control for this pitch. The ball flew straight into the catcher's mitt, stunning everyone who managed to see it. The smack of the mitt seemed to echo across the diamond as everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing:

_What the hell was that?!_

The umpire was the first to snap out of the shock from viewing such a strange pitch, and his loud cry of 'Strike!' snapped everyone else out of it as well. Abe threw the ball back to Mihashi, his eyes still wide with surprise. Just what in the hell _was_ that pitch?

'_Was that a fastball?_' the catcher's mind raced. '_Or did it break? I'll need to watch it closer to see what it really is… and while getting the batter out too._'

Only four more of Mihashi's special pitches were needed to get out the next three batters. Mixing in some fastballs kept them confused, and it served for three easy outs, the runner on first barely even moving.

After everything was packed up and Nishiura got ready to leave, the team was approached by their opponents. Well, more specifically, Mihashi was approached.

"Please!" the entire opposing team bowed in unison. "Teach us that amazing pitch of yours!"

The Nishiura team was surprised that they'd ask such a thing, though ultimately thought no harm could come from teaching them. However, before any of them could say anything on Mihashi's behalf, Mihashi stepped forward. He raised his eyebrows for only a split second before his face went blank. There was no emotion in his features, no life in his eyes. He spoke darkly and bluntly to the other team.

"A pitch like that can't be taught to just anyone." He said. "Not unless you've seen hell."

The pitcher said nothing more, but merely turned and walked away from the bowing team. He had said all he needed to say; if they didn't understand, it was on them.

The rest of the Nishiura team was dumbstruck at their ace's words. What hell did he mean? Was he referring to whatever happened when he was missing? Abe, for one, wanted to know, so when they finished changing back at their school's field, he confronted him.

"So what was that about earlier?" he asked. Mihashi didn't respond, didn't make eye contact. Abe narrowed his eyes. "Mihashi." The pitcher again said nothing.

"What did you mean by 'hell' back there, Mihashi?" Abe asked, somewhat louder to make sure the pitcher heard him.

"Nothing." Mihashi replied after a pause. "It was nothing…"

"It just isn't nothing, Mihashi." Abe said. "Your behavior has been more than a little odd as of late, and while we all gave you your space before, what you said to them has made us all more than just a little concerned. We deserve an explanation here."

"I don't have to tell you anything!" Mihashi snapped at him, surprising the catcher. Mihashi recoiled at his own words, his hand clamping down over his mouth.

"I'm sorry…" He mumbled from behind his hand.

"Mihashi—"

"Just… Just leave me alone…" Mihashi visibly trembled, turning from his catcher and grabbing his bag. "I don't want to talk about it." With that, he headed to his bike, to head home, alone.

As Abe had said, the team was more than just a little concerned about their pitcher, and after that confrontation, every time they would try to talk to him, even if it wasn't about him, Mihashi would find an excuse not to talk to them or would just ignore them altogether. Granted, there was no problem with his pitching or his performance in practice, it was just his newfound detachment that began to impact the team.

Eventually, Coach Momoe decided to talk with him. She took him to the outer edge of the field and set up two mats, one for herself and one for Mihashi. The rest of the team continued practice, wondering what they were saying.

"You don't have to say a word." Coach Momoe said. "Just nodding or shaking your head will be enough to answer me, alright?" Mihashi nodded.

"Do you have a problem with the team?"

Mihashi shook his head.

"Is it a personal problem?"

Mihashi nodded.

"Does it have to do with those four months you were gone?"

Mihashi paused before nodding.

"Are you set on avoiding the subject as long as it takes, no matter how much you worry your team?"

Mihashi looked up from staring at the growing grass and made eye contact with the coach.

"I don't know…" he said. "I don't want to… to worry them… but…" His gaze returned to the ground.

"You don't know how they'd take the news?" Momoe asked.

Mihashi nodded. "And… I'm… I'm not… I'm not proud of the things I did…" He clenched his fists as he rested his hands on his knees. "And I… I don't want them to hate me… or think… I don't want them to think I'm… I'm…" Mihashi couldn't finish his sentence before breaking down into fearful tears.

Coach Momoe said nothing as he cried, waiting only a few short minutes before his sobs stopped on their own.

"I… I don't know how to tell them…" he muttered.

"It's okay." Coach Momoe stood up from her mat. "You can tell them when you're ready, but in the meantime, don't be so distant. We can't have a full team with one person going their own way. We gotta stick together! Get it?"

"G-Got it…" Mihashi nodded, and stood up as well. He followed her back to the team and she told him to wait while she had a word with them. Shino'oka decided to give him a hand with his stretches while the rest of the team spoke with the coach.

"I got a bit of an answer from him regarding his behavior as of late." She began. "But to be frank, it won't answer any of your questions. At least, not yet."

"What did he say?" Abe asked.

"He's just afraid that you guys would take the news the wrong way." The coach replied. "And if anything, he'll tell you when he's ready. Plus, he promised he'd stop avoiding and ignoring you guys, as long as you don't try asking him about it. Sound like a plan?"

While the majority of the team agreed with her plan, Abe was not satisfied. Knowing there was something going on with their pitcher that he was keeping a secret from them made him angry, _really_ angry. But he had to admit that the coach was right, they couldn't force the answers out of him; they'd have to wait until Mihashi told them on his own.

But there was one thing bugging the catcher about that. How long were they going to have to wait?!

Thankfully, not for long.

* * *

**Part 3 of Angel Tears**

**Author's Note: Starting with the next part, on the account of profanity and references to touchy subjects only to escalate (e.g. rape, suicide, etc. - I'll be sure to put a warning at the top of each new part), this story will be rated M. Please take care to remember this and know I do not mean to offend or trigger anyone whatsoever and that I have formulated this plot to build certain bonds and lead to a certain point. Any and all original characters forthcoming will NOT be paired with a canon character unless they are merely showing copious amounts of affection that is built within the nature of their character. The majority of relations between the Oofuri characters and my OCs are strongly friendship/ally based, and anything regarding more passionate emotions will be centered around OCxOC and CanonxCanon pairings.**

That being said, Pairings for Angel Tears (if not apparent): AbeMiha, TajiHanai, MizuIzuHama, SakaeSuya, OCxOC

**Reviews are well-appreciated! Part 4 in-progress!**

Other Notes:

-45.4 kg is roughly 100 lbs

-the description of Mihashi's 'new pitch' isn't realistic, I understand that, I just chose that particular kind of situation to lead to the revealing of Mihashi's hidden side

-the 'acquaintances' mentioned will have significance


	4. Chapter 4

**Slight warning for nonchalant profanity.**

* * *

It was two weeks after Coach Momoe spoke with Mihashi, and after a practice game with another neighboring high school. The score ended 3 to 2, like the previous game, with Nishiura coming out the victor yet again. Mihashi was ecstatic that he only gave up two runs in the whole game, and even happier with the fact things had patched up nicely between him and the team. He wasn't so distant anymore, and that made him feel a lot better. For once, he actually felt relaxed.

Too bad it only lasted for so long.

Mihashi didn't show up to school or to practice the next day, and his mother even called Coach Momoe to let her know he wouldn't be able to make it that day, or even the next day either! The entire team was wondering the same thing when notified of this: _Why?_

Granted they all wanted to give Mihashi his privacy, but what the hell was going on with him now?

Unanimously, the team decided to visit Mihashi's house that next morning, because since there weren't any major games coming up, Coach lessened their practice time, but only by one hour.

When they arrived at Mihashi's large house, the team noticed a large tent off to the side, but still on the property. There were motorcycles parked next to it; and the group grew nervous as they waited for someone to answer. But when the door slid open, they didn't expect the face that greeted them.

It was a boy clearly older than them, taller than even Hanai, with muscles clearly defined seeing as he answered the door shirtless. His blonde hair glistened with moisture, the towel around his shoulders telling the team he had just gotten out of the shower. He seemed normal, but what intimidated the group was the large dragon tattoo on the guy's shoulder. His hazel eyes scanned the group before settling on Tajima, who had rung the doorbell.

"Sup?" he asked. Tajima gulped before answering.

"Uh… Is Mihashi Ren home?" he asked. "Or, uh, awake?"

"Who is it, Judgie?" a voice called from inside the house.

"Group of nine." The large guy replied. "They're askin' for Miha."

"Angel's still K.O.'ed from last night's fiasco." The voice laughed. "It'd be a miracle if he wakes up before lunch!"

"Didn't Michi go up to try, though?" the guy asked, turning away from the team and revealing more tattoos on his back: the word 'Judge' written between his shoulder blades in amazing penmanship, and tipped scales on his lower back.

"You know how Michi can be." The voice answered. "If Jun hasn't given him his fix, he'll be all over Angel in no time."

"If you _must_ know, Michiro has been taken care of for the morning." Another voice added. No one on the Nishiura team could see past the guy in the door, so they couldn't see the sources of the two voices. "And why don't you ask for their names and their business with Ren, Ruki, instead of just having them stand out there."

"Oh right." The big guy, Ruki, turned back to the team with a smile. "I'm pretty sure you heard 'im fellas."

"We're Nishiura High's baseball team." Abe answered. "Mihashi didn't come to practice and we were concerned."

"Ho-Ho-Ho-Hold up, mah bitches!" a much thinner boy ran up and leaped onto Ruki's back, looking at the team over his tattooed shoulder. "You guys are Miha's baseball team?!" This second boy was much smaller than Ruki, but looked around Mihashi's size and was just as thin. His black hair was short, but what most of the team focused on were his eyes. They were a strange almost-violet color, and sparkled beautifully. Were they natural?

"Uh, yeah, we're Mihashi's baseball team." Sakaeguchi answered.

"Awesome!" the new boy grinned, leaning farther down off Ruki's shoulder. "He's told us so much about you guys, c'mon in! Ruki, onwards!"

Ruki rolled his eyes and led the group into the house where they all gathered in the living room.

"So uh… Who are you guys?" Tajima asked as politely as possible.

"I'm Kazehoshi Shito." The smaller boy answered. "And this big fella is Kitagawa Ruki. Don't worry about intros for yourselves; I'm willing to bet I know all of you already!"

"Oh yeah?" Tajima grinned, now officially comfortable in the presence of the new boys. "Prove it!" Shito smiled mischievously.

"Tajima Yuuichirou, cleanup hitter and third baseman." Shito pointed to each member one by one, reciting their full names and positions. "Abe Takaya, catcher; Hanai Azusa, right field; Sakaeguchi Yuuto, second base; Izumi Kousuke, center field; Suyama Shoji, shortstop; Mizutani Fumiki, left field; Oki Kazutoshi, first base; and Nishihiro Shintarou, reserve player. Your coach is Momoe Maria with a rack no one can _believe_, your manager is Shino'oka Chiyo who's fucking _precious_ and your faculty supervisor is Shiga Tsuyoshi who's a math teacher but knows plenty about the human body and the brain."

"Holy crap, how do you know all _that_?" Tajima asked.

"Like I said, Miha talks _a lot_ about you guys." Shito grinned. "And speaking of our dear, Mihashi Ren, he's your pitcher who continually has difficulty speaking up due to his _shitty_ years at Mihoshi Academy. He's become a lot stronger during his time in Nishiura and we sure as hell thank you for that, my friends."

"So who are you guys to Mihashi, exactly?" Abe asked.

"He's a very good friend," Shito said, "and a very worthy ally. He's saved our asses on more than one account." Abe raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound like the Mihashi they knew. But then again, with his strange behavior as of late, it wasn't really a surprise some secrets were slinking out into the open now.

"What do you mean by 'ally'?" Mizutani spoke up.

"We've had our share of troubles and whatnot," Shito answered, "and each time, Ren has graciously come to our aid. In fact, a few of us even owe him our lives, but that's another story for another day. Any of you guys hungry? It's pretty early in the morning, after all."

"We're used to being up this early." Sakaeguchi said. "And we've all grabbed breakfast before we came by."

"And that 'story for another day' can be shared now, seeing as we're waiting for Mihashi to wake up." Abe scowled. Shito hid behind Ruki's head.

"Angel's right, he _can_ be scary." He whispered.

"What was that?" Abe's expression only grew darker.

"You keep mentioning 'Angel'." Izumi stepped in. "Who is that?"

"Oh, Angel is an exclusive nickname for our little Miha." Shito smiled. "I mean, it definitely fits him."

"Yeah, for an evil bastard, Nakumori was damn good with stage names." Ruki said, mainly to himself and to Shito. "Now that I think about it, pay was decent too for us older guys, Tat can vouch for that."

"Speaking of Tat, is he still out front?" Shito asked.

"Yes, his 3 o clock appointment is still here, judging by the bikes outside." A dark haired boy walked in from the kitchen and crossed his arms. "And you know how he tends to be a perfectionist at his trade."

"But it's, what, five already?" Shito asked. "I didn't think it would take him that long. But then again, it took him three hours to do my eyes."

"It must be a specific order." Ruki said. "Since Tat's one of the best artists we know."

"And you are?" Abe asked the third guy. The dark haired boy's green eyes glared daggers towards Abe before he bowed out of courtesy.

"My name is Kato Jun." he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Ren has spoken kindly of all of you on more than one account."

"I take it you three aren't the only new guys in the house?" Hanai asked.

"Correct." Jun replied. "Other than us three, there is Ishiori Takeru and Hanegawa Michiro. Takeru is out front working while Michiro is upstairs with Ren."

"What's Michi up to, do you know Jun?" Shito asked. Jun shook his head.

"All he said was he was going to try waking him up." He replied. "And left it at that."

"Yeah, but you know how he can get sometimes, right?" Shito mentioned, resting his head on top of Ruki's before grabbing the towel and rubbing on it the blonde's head. Jun nodded in response. "And you still let him go in there without anyone to supervise him?! I thought you were the responsible one of us, Jun!"

"I probably am, but I don't want to bother with him right now." Jun said with a huff.

"Let me guess, it was his turn to clean up, but he didn't bother with it?" Ruki asked. Jun flinched.

"Ah, that sucks." Shito said. "It's not fun waking up in a mess like that, you feel so icky, know what I'm sayin'?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Jun answered. "We have guests here."

"No, please keep talking." Tajima motioned for them to continue. "We're just waiting right here for whenever Mihashi wakes up."

"Tajima, you _do_ realize we have practice this morning, right?" Hanai asked.

"You do?!" Shito gasped. "Oh, do you think I could come watch? I love baseball! I used to play back in junior high!"

"Really? What position?" Mizutani asked.

"I was the reserve player, but I could play every position." Shito grinned. "Mainly because a few guys on my team were pretty accident prone, I got to play a variety of positions."

"Do you think Coach would mind?" Nishihiro asked the team.

"As long as they don't get in the way, I think it's fine." Abe said. "Who knows, if he's as good as he says, maybe she'll let him help us."

"Really?! Awesome!" Shito beamed. "I'll go get Angel then, just wait right here!" Immediately, the smaller boy jumped off Ruki's back and bolted upstairs. It was only about ten seconds before thuds and shouts could be heard above their heads. The group flinched as Shito was thrown down the stairs, falling flat on his face at the bottom. He got up and glared towards Jun. No one on the team expected the next thing out of his mouth.

"Jun, are you _sure_ you fucked Michi this morning?!" he exclaimed. "Cuz he's angrier than a hungry lion and hornier than a rabbit in heat right now!"

"Yes I'm _sure_, if you _must_ know!" Jun answered sharply. "I don't know why he's so strung up now!"

"Well then unless you're gonna let Angel take care of him, I suggest you get your ass up there _now_!" Shito said, grabbing him by the collar and flinging him up the stairs. He rejoined Ruki and the team, fuming.

"I take it Michi doesn't want to go?" Ruki asked.

"Just wait, once he's got Jun up his ass, he'll be begging to come," Shito replied before chuckling, "in more ways than one, know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, and I think _they_ know what you're saying too." Ruki motioned over to the Nishiura team, who were sitting there wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"What, it's the truth, ain't it?" Shito asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why d'you guys look so surprised?"

"I guess it was how blunt you were…" Sakaeguchi replied hesitantly.

"Well that's what's gonna happen." Shito said. "And to be perfectly honest, Jun and Michi go at it at least four to five times a day."

"You should also mention they're in a relationship." Ruki said. "Forgetting to mention that just makes Michi sound more like a whore than he already looks like."

"Hahaha! I know right!" Shito laughed, failing to notice a quick-moving figure bound down the stairs and turn towards the kitchen. Tajima just barely caught a glimpse of them before shrugging it off as his imagination. However, when a frying pan came flying towards Shito's head, the small boy catching it within an inch of his face, Tajima understood that it wasn't just his imagination.

It was Mihashi.

* * *

**Part 4 of Angel Tears**

**Part 5 in progress**

**Reviews are well-appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Warning for slight swearing (will get heavier as time goes on) and minor seduction attempts easily thwarted.**

* * *

The Mihashi that stood before them was one Mihashi the team had ever seen before. The usual Mihashi was jittery and socially inept, showing only few instances of confidence and determination. This Mihashi was different. With a baseball bat in hand and the scariest glare anyone on the team could imagine on his face, he stood in a shirt and pair of shorts that he usually wore to bed. But what ultimately negated the majority of the fear the team felt, was the fact that Mihashi's face and clothes were _covered_ in _lipstick_. And not like someone had drawn on him, no; it was like someone had been _kissing every available surface of his body while he had been sleeping_.

As he stood there, fuming, Ruki quickly ran outside, remarking something about checking up on Tat. Shito cursed under his breath as the heavyweight absconded; there goes his main source of muscle. In defense, he held out the frying pan that had just been thrown at him.

"C-C'mon Miha." He said. "It's too early to be fighting, don't you think?"

Mihashi said nothing, but pointed the baseball bat at him threateningly. Shito put his hands up in surrender, dropping the pan and allowed Mihashi to escort him out of the living room. The team heard a door slam, followed by a muffled argument. Tajima moved over to the other side of the room to try to listen in to no avail. However, it wasn't long before Mihashi came out of wherever they were initially hiding and cast his glare on his team from the other side of the banister as he went upstairs.

"Give me fifteen minutes." He said. "And I'll be at practice with these morons in tow."

"Uh… o-okay." Tajima slinked down in his seat. The removal of the lipstick marks from Mihashi's face returned the factor of fear back to his glare, and once he was back upstairs, Shito emerged as well.

"Heh heh, yeah…" he said, "Miha's not happy."

"We can see that." Hanai said.

"Anyway, yeah, give him a few minutes to get us ready and we'll meet you there." Shito said. "It may be only five fifteen, but I get the feeling it'd be much safer for you guys to head out early and avoid his wrath."

"I didn't think Mihashi was capable of 'wrath'." Izumi admitted. "He's usually tamer than a kitten."

"Oh trust me, Miha ain't no kitten," Shito said, "especially when he's this pissed. Now you guys take this chance to skedaddle. I've gotta round up the boys."

And with that, the Nishiura team left Mihashi's giant house, wondering just what the hell was going on. They ended up meeting Coach Momoe at the field to her obvious surprise that they were there so early, but she started practice nonetheless. Granted, the team questioned why she herself was there so early, but she brushed it off as something she did regularly.

She just couldn't let the boys know the real reason why; not just yet.

'_I just… I just wanted to make sure you were well warned ahead of time. They can be pretty rowdy when they're hyped up. But they're good boys, I promise you._'

Coach Momoe tapped her fingers as her arms were crossed over her chest. If what she was told was true, then things just might get interesting if Mihashi decided to— "Good morning, Coach." A very irritated-looking Mihashi walked through the gate as she observed the rest of the team as they practiced. "I have something to ask you."

Out on the field, Abe noticed Mihashi enter the gate and approach Coach Momoe immediately. They exchanged a few words before Mihashi returned to the gate and waved in a group of four, three of them being Ruki, Shito and Jun, who the team met earlier. The fourth was… a _girl_?!

"Ne, this place is nice." A red-headed female cooed, scanning over the field. "You always practice here, Ren?" She was around Mihashi's height, if not a little bit shorter than him, with curves that not only _clearly_ showed she was a genuine _female_, but made the majority of the team stop and stare for a good minute before they snapped back to reality. Just who _was_ that?

"Yeah, now just sit down and behave." Mihashi said, quickly changing into his uniform while shielded by Ruki. "Coach said you could participate if she needs you to."

"Sweet!" Shito grinned, taking a seat on one of the benches in the dugout. "Can't wait!"

"Just behave yourselves." Mihashi said sharply, slipping his glove on his hand.

"And what if we don't?" the red-headed girl purred, taking a seat on Jun's lap.

"I think Jun can answer that one." Mihashi wasn't fazed, and joined the team out on the field. He was immediately grabbed by Tajima and dragged into a group huddle.

"And just _who_ is _that_?" Tajima asked, motioning to the girl nuzzling under Jun's chin, saying something none of them could hear from where they were.

"That's Hanegawa Michiro." Mihashi answered. "He's one of the five guys living in my house, why?"

"Wait…" the rest of the team looked over to the dugout. Michiro noticed he was being stared at and gave a short wave with a smile.

"_That's a guy?!_" the team looked to Mihashi in disbelief.

"My boner's confused now." Tajima said bluntly, earning some shushes from the team.

"Yes that's a guy," Mihashi answered, "yes he looks like a girl, yes he likes dressing up like one but he hates it when anyone calls him a girl. I don't get his thinking at all. And I wouldn't go near him if I were you."

"Why not?" Tajima asked, disregarding the team's attempts to shut him up.

"I'm sure you heard Shito say it." Mihashi said, heading off to the mound. "He's hornier than a rabbit in heat, and won't hesitate to jump on you when given the opportunity. Even though he shouldn't be available since he's Jun's boyfriend, he's pretty open regardless."

"So… he's a whore?" Abe asked once Mihashi was out of earshot.

"Sounds like it…" Suyama answered.

"My boner's still confused." Tajima said.

"Just get back to practice Tajima." Hanai said. "Don't think about it."

"But I don't know if it's okay for my dick to—" Tajima's mouth was immediately covered by Izumi's glove as he was dragged off to continue practice. Tajima just didn't have any decency sometimes.

As the team continued practice, Coach Momoe took some time to quiz the group in the dugout on their knowledge of baseball and finding they actually knew a decent amount of information. She asked if they wanted to try on some of the spare uniforms for a more authentic feel as they practiced with the team, but the group declined.

"I feel plenty comfortable in my clothes right now." Shito said. "But I should get cleats for this the next chance I get to go shopping."

"Let Michiro borrow a uniform though." Jun spoke up.

"What, why?" Michiro asked from on his lap. "I'm fine playing in this!" Jun stared at his boyfriend's choice of clothes: a bright yellow halter top with blue trim, jean shorts that he clearly wore only to show off his legs, and _thankfully_ sneakers instead of his usual heels or sandals. Oh, and the fake breasts he wore underneath to purposefully confuse Mihashi's teammates.

"No, you're wearing a uniform." Jun said, ignoring Michiro's immediate whining.

"You're so mean." The red-head grumbled, pouting like a child.

"You always say that." Jun rolled his eyes.

"I know." Michiro repositioned himself so he was straddling Jun's legs. "But there's the mean I like and the mean I don't like. And right now you're being the mean I don't like."

"And do I have to care?" Jun wasn't fazed by Michiro's obvious attempts to seduce him.

"You're no fun."

"We're in public."

"So?" Michiro leaned up and hugged Jun's head to the fake lumps underneath his shirt. "I don't think they'd mind."

"Do you want Miha to bash your skull in?" Jun warned with his voice muffled before peeking up at him. "Just like that one time you were—"

"Okay, okay, I get it, no need to mention anything that I did over the past few months that made me look like a complete imbecile and was thus punished by Mihashi." Michiro said, letting go of Jun's head. "And not in the way I like."

"Then behave yourself." Jun said, standing up and dumping Michiro onto the floor.

"Ow!" Michiro rubbed his head, which he had hit on another bench. "That hurt you dick!" He latched onto Jun's leg as the other boy tried to walk off. "Say you're sorry before I get Ruki on your ass!"

"Please don't bring me into this." Ruki said from the other end of a different bench, purposefully putting some distance between him and Jun.

"C'mon Michi, just change." Shito said. "It'd be no fun without you."

"Damn straight." Michiro grinned, letting Jun out of his grip. "I'm the life of the party, after all!"

"Then get changed." Jun dropped the spare uniform on top of Michiro's head. Michiro looked over the mostly white uniform with a small pout on his lips, before sighing and disrobing without a second thought. Jun stood in front of him while he unlatched the fake breasts he had on, and Michiro questioned why.

"You're not exactly the most decent person I know." Jun said. "So I'm taking the time to make sure you're properly censored. That and I'm making sure none of Mihashi's teammates—"

"See my hot bod that you've claimed as yours?" Michiro interrupted. Jun's eyebrow visibly twitched in agitation.

"No, I meant your tattoos." Jun said, mentally counting to ten lest he try to strangle his boyfriend. "I'm pretty sure they're not acceptable here, seeing as it's the field of a _school_."

"You're such a stick in the mud." Michiro stuck his tongue out at him. "I don't think there's anything wrong with my tattoos; besides, at least I don't have as many as Tat."

"That is true." Jun muttered. "But you're not exactly responsible."

"What does being responsible have to do with anything?!" Michiro asked, pulling the shirts over his head. "There, I'm covered now, happy?"

"Very." Jun couldn't help but smirk. "Now let's see what Coach Momoe has for us to do."

The next few hours were mainly fielding practice, with Mihashi's new housemates batting excellently. Things went smoothly for that time, but then the car came. It was a black van that looked brand spanking new, but what brought everyone's attention to it was the loud music blaring from the inside. Mihashi was gone from the mound in a flash, immediately running towards the van with a bat in hand. He raised it over his head, planning to try smashing one of the windows, but a hand was quickly on the bat, stopping it inches over the windshield.

"Okay, okay, I'll turn it off!" a blonde guy shouted, and turned off the radio once Mihashi dropped the bat. "Sheesh, you've got some anger issues, man."

"You're clearly on school property," Mihashi growled, "and as the eldest of the group, you should have a little more decency when arriving to the field." The older boy rolled his eyes and the bat was back in Mihashi's hand instantly. "Or do you want me to turn that car of yours into scrap metal?"

"Jesus, Miha, why're you so set on killing my car?!" the older boy exclaimed, raising his arms to protect the vehicle. "I won't do it again, I promise!"

'_So that makes five_.' Momoe thought to herself, and approached the two to confirm her notion. The rest of the team wondered how many new guys they'd be meeting that day, since the one protecting his car made five.

"Yo! Tat! 'Bout time you showed up!" Michiro called from his spot at second. "Jump on in, give us a homer!"

"So that's that Tat guy you were talking about earlier?" Suyama asked. Michiro nodded.

"He's a big guy, ain't he; he can send me home no problem." The redhead smirked.

"But that's only if he wants to join the practice, right?" Sakaeguchi asked. Michiro paused before waving his arms around wildly.

"C'mon Tat!" he called. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Show 'em what you got!""

"Appease Kat and I won't try to smash your car for a week." Mihashi said, and immediately Tat was grabbing himself a bat. Momoe didn't even have to ask.

"Do you even know how to _play_ baseball?" Ruki asked from the batter's box. Tat shrugged.

"How hard can it be?" he grinned, just hoping his participation would keep Mihashi away from his car. "Should be fine as long as I try, right?" Ruki rolled his eyes and took his stance. Mihashi turned to the mound without a word to anyone and matched determined looks with Ruki. Abe noticed this and wondered what all the intensity was for. It was only practice, after all.

But what he didn't know was that Mihashi's new housemates had been waiting for this for the past four months.

_CRACK_.

The ball was launched across the field with immense power, though only making it to deep center field, where Izumi was able to catch it, though not making it in time to get the larger boy out. Michiro made it to third with no issue, and gave Tat a thumb's up as he walked up to the plate. "Bring me home, Inky!"

Tat rolled his eyes at the stupid nickname before settling his sights on Mihashi. The pitcher gave him a dark sort of grin, and Tat tightened his grip on the bat to ignore the slight twinge of fear he felt. Miha could definitely be scary sometimes…

Taking this practice seriously, Ishiori Takeru sat on the first pitch: a screwball, and getting a strike. He glared in towards Mihashi in challenge. _Don't fuck around, Angel_, his expression read, _if you want to put me away, do it right_.


	6. Chapter 6

**Warning for swearing and mentionings of kidnapping, rape and substance abuse.**

* * *

Mihashi's dark grin spread a little bit farther across his face as he began his special pitch's windup. Abe frowned, that wasn't what he had called for, but then again, it was only practice, and going against his housemates gave Mihashi a little bit more freedom in his pitches. Though that's only what Abe figured.

But the catcher wondered why Mihashi was going all out during a _practice_. That wasn't like him.

Mihashi hurled the baseball towards the larger blonde and Tat took a swing. His grip on the bat never faltered until he followed through, sending the ball up over the infielders' heads. He had popped it up, to the surprise of Abe that he could even manage to hit it, and was out before he made it to first. Mizutani had caught the ball in shallow left field and started to relay it back to home through Tajima. But as Tajima threw the ball home, Michiro was already sliding into the plate. They definitely hadn't expected the redhead to be so fast!

"Woo! I made it!" Michiro grinned after dusting the dirt off the uniform. "I knew Tat could send me home! Though, duh, a home run would've been even cooler."

"He has no experience in baseball." Jun passed him a towel to wipe his face. "Granted he has the power to hit a home run, but without the proper skill and experience, he'll keep popping it up."

"Of course, this can be fixed with _practice_." Momoe said under her breath before clapping her hands to get the team's attention. "Alright guys, it's almost time for classes to start, get your stuff cleaned up and we'll meet back here after school!"

"Okay!" the team acknowledged the signal to start cleaning up.

"What? We're done already?" Michiro pouted.

"We have school today, in case you've forgotten." Mihashi tapped the back of the redhead's head with his glove as he went to the dugout. Michiro stuck his tongue out at the pitcher.

"Either way, we should help rake the field." Jun said, passing Michiro one of the wooden 'rakes'. Michiro tested how heavy it was before picking it up and twirling it over his head like a large baton. The redhead was clearly stronger than he looked, and he grinned as he ran to join Shito in raking the field. Jun rolled his eyes. He could be just like a little kid sometimes.

"Hey Jun!" Shito called from between second and third base. Jun raised an eyebrow. "Can I take off my shirt? I'm sweating like a pig out here!"

Jun looked over to Coach Momoe for approval, and she nodded. Jun gave him the okay and immediately he and Michiro had shed their shirts. The few Nishiura teammates that were also working on cleaning the field were pretty surprised at the sight, but that was because both Michiro and Shito had tattoos.

Michiro had a sort of collar around the base of his neck with his name spelled out across his collarbones. A fluffy pink cat's tail curled against his lower back; the word 'Kitten' was written between his shoulder blades.

As for Shito, a pair of eyes was tattooed on his back, one eye on the back of each shoulder, and they looked as if they were made of shattered glass, very intricate in design and coloring. The words 'Crystal Eyes' were written between his shoulder blades, and his name, like Michiro's, was tattooed on his collarbones. But that wasn't all. There were designs on the boy's forearms, the words 'Shine On' on his left forearm, and 'Haruki' on his right forearm, both having been hidden all this time by the long sleeved shirts he had been wearing. The words were in a gorgeous penmanship, set on banners among stars and flowers. The team wondered if getting them was as painful as they thought it was, seeing as they looked so complex.

"Shito, are you feeling okay?" Ruki asked, the wooden rake slung over his shoulder. "You know you overheat pretty easily when out in the sun too long."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Shito waved him off. "I've kept myself hydrated all morning, and I promise I'll keep cool when we get home. Okay?"

"Just be careful." Ruki said. "We can't afford any hospital trips, you get me? Mr. Yoshimura specifically said we can't end up in the ER, no matter what."

"Yeah, I know, he gave everyone that spiel." Shito said, and headed off with Michiro to finish the ground maintenance.

"I know he did, but you're just too reckless sometimes." Ruki muttered, following suit.

The Nishiura team changed their clothes and packed their bags while things were finished up by Mihashi's housemates. The pitcher hid behind the open door to change, as was normal for him as of late, and went outside to give instructions to the group still out on the field.

"…Those guys living with Mihashi are really something, aren't they?" Tajima asked once Mihashi was out of sight.

"They're something else, all right." Izumi replied. "Did you see the tattoos on Shito? Talk about crazy."

"The design or the fact he got them done?" Abe asked.

"I guess both." Izumi said. "I mean, he's the same age as us, isn't he?"

"Judging by his size, I guess so." Hanai said.

"Then why is he getting tattoos if he's the same age as us?" Sakaeguchi asked. "I'd figure he would have to show an ID to get one."

"…Mihashi has a tattoo too, in case you guys have forgotten." Abe said. And immediately light bulbs went off over each member's head.

"You don't think…" Mizutani spoke up.

"That they were all stuck in the same place as Mihashi?" Suyama finished.

"It's definitely an idea." Abe said. "We'd have to ask them directly in order to be sure, though."

"But we don't know if they're even willing to talk about it." Sakaeguchi said. "I mean, look at how Mihashi's been acting lately."

"I don't think they're uncomfortable with it though." Nishihiro spoke up. "I mean, Shito and Michiro willingly took off their shirts once they got the okay. They didn't look uncomfortable with their tattoos at all."

"I guess you're right, but how would we even go about asking?" Oki mentioned.

"By just fucking asking us?" Michiro asked from the open door, his tone not sarcastic or agitated but more innocent and honest. "We're fine with telling you about what happened."

"But Miha sure isn't." Shito said, coming up from behind Michiro, latched onto Ruki's back like earlier that morning. "That's why we're not allowed to say anything."

"That's not fair though!" Michiro said. "Why can't we just tell them about what happened to _us_ and not about what happened to Miha?"

"Because Miha is connected to each of us," Shito said, "and if we tell our stories, we'll ultimately tell Miha's too. So we can't say anything until we get the okay from him."

"Argh, this totally sucks _balls_!" Michiro exclaimed. "First he says we're not allowed to hang out here, then he says we can't tell our stories to the only group of people that _need to know_?! Jesus, Miha was never like this back in the Ring, he's sounding more tight-assed than Abe!"

"Wha— Hey, I _am_ _not_!" Abe retaliated.

"Yeah you are; I ain't seen nobody with a pole farther up their ass than you." Michiro said, matter-of-factly. "And that's sayin' something coming from me!"

"I don't even know you, you ridiculous twat, don't just stick to the first thing you assume!" Abe shouted.

"Why I oughta—!" Michiro raised his arms as if he were ready to claw Abe's eyes out, but was held back my Ruki hooking his arms under his.

"Down Kit, down." He said, strangely calm in this situation. "We can't make the guys late for school."

"C'mon Judgie, just one! He's just askin' for a fucking kick to the dick!" Michiro exclaimed, struggling against the larger boy's hold on him.

"Don't make me get Miha, Michi." Shito said, still on Ruki's shoulders. Michiro stopped his struggling and Ruki let him go, trusting him not to try attacking the catcher. The redhead pointed to Abe, both of them clearly still pissed.

"You got lucky this time." He said. "But next time, don't think it'll end this easily." With a huff, Michiro walked past Ruki and Shito. Once out of sight, Jun could be heard asking him what happened, to which Michiro called back towards the open door. "Fucking _somebody_ needs to get fucking _blown_, that's what fucking happened!"

"Leave it alone, Michi." Shito hopped off Ruki's back to help the redhead chill out some before his best friend ended up causing any more trouble.

"Yeah, you guys should get to school." Ruki said. "Before Michi ends up having a conniption."

"He's the one who started it." Abe grumbled. "I am _not_ tight-assed."

"But if Mihashi gave the okay…" Hanai looked to Ruki. "Would you guys tell us what happened?"

"Oh sure." Ruki answered. "Granted, none of us are proud of what we had to do, but we're taking the steps to change and get back our lives, so we're willing to talk about what happened. Talking about it will help us accept the past so we can move on into the future."

"Sounds like it was pretty bad…" Sakaeguchi muttered.

"But if anything, you guys just have to keep an open mind about it." Ruki said. "Just because we did what we did back then doesn't mean we're intent on staying that way, no. If anything we're just trying to pick up where we left off, just like Mihashi is. It's just a little harder for us, that's all."

"Ruki! You thirsty?" Shito called. "Wanna head home and grab a beer?"

"You know the rules I have to follow when it comes to that shit," Ruki said, turning from the door and stepping out of view.

"I know, I know, less beer, more water." Shito said. "You adorable little alcoholic you."

"I'm an _ex_-alcoholic, you little beast." Ruki laughed.

"Not officially, _Your Honor_." Shito laughed as their footsteps got farther away from where the Nishiura team was changing. "You still got a ways to go before you're totally clean."

"I know, but I think I'm almost there." Ruki said before their voices ended up out of earshot from where the team stood.

"…Can someone our age even _be_ an alcoholic?" Sakaeguchi asked.

"If they drink heavily and frequently enough, that is if they even have access to that much, then yeah." Abe said.

"But even the idea of actually becoming an alcoholic when he's probably not that much older than us…" Nishihiro said. "It really makes you wonder just what happened."

"Well hopefully Mihashi will give them the okay soon." Tajima said, grinning and heading out of the room. "I can tell just by how those guys look that we're in for one hell of a story!"

'_This just may be more serious than you think, Tajima_.' Abe thought. '_Drinking, tattoos… if that's just the tip of the iceberg, we may be getting ourselves into something much bigger than we think._'

* * *

While the team was in school, Momoe went off to do her normal part-time jobs. And while she committed herself to doing the best job she could manage in order to raise money for her team, her mind wandered to the conversation she had with Mrs. Mihashi only hours earlier. The woman asked to meet her at the field before practice so they'd have some privacy, and what she revealed to Coach Momoe was both distressing and interesting.

"_I'm sorry for having to call you out this early, Maria." Mrs. Mihashi apologized when Momoe arrived at the field. "I just wanted to make sure no one overhears us."_

"_It's just fine, Naoe." Momoe waved it off. "Now, what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?"_

"_Well…" Mrs. Mihashi sat with the Coach on the bleachers of the dugout. "I wanted to explain why Ren wasn't at practice yesterday. A-And he might not today either, it depends how things go at home…"_

"_I had assumed he just stayed home and rested after the game we had." Momoe said. "But I'm guessing that wasn't the case?" Mrs. Mihashi nodded._

"_Because of… Ren's disappearance… I've been asked to house five other boys for the next few months." Mrs. Mihashi explained. "Two of them are Ren's age, 16, two are a year older, 17, and the last is 19."_

"_Okay, but I don't understand how this concerns me." Momoe said._

"_They're not currently enrolled in school, but the option of enrolling them into Nishiura is still under negotiation." Mrs. Mihashi said. "So in the meanwhile, they might be following Ren around…"_

"_Oh, and they might turn up here at the field?" Momoe finished. Mrs. Mihashi nodded. _

"_I just… I just wanted to make sure you were well warned ahead of time. They can be pretty rowdy when they're hyped up. But they're good boys, I promise you." Mrs. Mihashi said. "They've been through a lot… but they're by no means bad!"_

"…_Could you elaborate?" Momoe asked._

"_O-Only if it won't be a bother…" Mrs. Mihashi said._

"_It's fine." Momoe said. "Practice isn't starting until 6 today, so we have time."_

"_Okay…" Mrs. Mihashi pulled a relatively thick manila folder from the bag she had with her, the tab at the top reading 'The Favorites'. "The agent who asked me to house the boys while they're here in Saitama gave me this folder with all their information. And since they're much more open about their experiences in comparison to Ren, they've provided their own take on what happened as well."_

_Momoe took the folder and flipped it open. First was a group photo of the five boys Mrs. Mihashi had mentioned. They were all crowding around Ren in what looked like great joy as the photographer snapped the candid shot. And Ren looked different in this picture, as Momoe noted. He didn't look uneasy being caught in the huddle; in fact, he was smiling along with them. Momoe moved the photo to the side and began skimming the boys' profiles one by one. They were all very unique in looks and personality, but they had several things in common that was ultimately the main cause of concern._

_Each one of them had been kidnapped, raped and forced to work in a prostitution ring run by a man named Nakumori Satake (who at that present moment had been pronounced dead since before Mihashi's return). And each had the reputation of being one of Nakumori's 'Favorites', or in the case of Ishiori Takeru, the Ring's tattoo artist. All of them were younger than age 20, Takeru being the eldest at 19, and all their families were pronounced dead, murdered by Nakumori's underlings when they were first kidnapped._

"…_And these five aren't the only victims, right?" Momoe asked. Mrs. Mihashi nodded._

"_According to the data, there were around 38 boys under the age of 18 kidnapped and… 'employed'." She said. "There is also confirmation of several hundred others over time, but there have been no traces of them."_

"_So can you tell me what happened? They didn't just break out on their own, did they?" Momoe questioned. "It couldn't have been easy to escape."_

"_From what Yoshimura has told me, they had managed to get a lead two months into Ren's disappearance." Mrs. Mihashi answered. "He then infiltrated the facility where they were being held and got the 'Favorites' in particular to help develop a plan of escape. Since they're all home free now, you can obviously see that it worked."_

"_And what about the living conditions of the other victims?" Momoe asked. "Are they all orphans as well?"_

"_No, according to a source, Nakumori stopped the family murders since that would ultimately leave a trail for police to follow." Mrs. Mihashi replied. "So a great majority of the other victims have been returned to their families. It seems that any that no longer have families are either old enough to start working and develop their own lives… or are currently staying at my house. Since the five were a few of the first ones to enter, their families have paid the price, so they have to wait until the organization thinks of something to help them get their lives in order."_

"_Like breaking their bad habits?" Momoe asked. "Their addictions even?"_

"_Yes, that's a start." Mrs. Mihashi nodded. "I was given instructions in regards to what treatment each boy is getting due to what their time in captivity has brought about." She pulled a piece of paper from the folder and scanned it as she spoke. "Ruki became an alcoholic due to frequent binge-drinking and is on a sort of modified Twelve-Step program that the rest of the group monitors closely. Michiro is, well, to put it bluntly, a sex addict. But his hypersexual habits are being broken one by one with Jun's help, since the two hold a certain mutual understanding of one another. Their affections towards each other are highly public, however, so you might need to remind them to keep it to themselves at times… Takeru was a smoker but has already started quitting long before the group broke out. And Shito goes in for psychological treatment once a week due to various accounts of abuse; though you'd never assume anything was wrong by how cheerful he usually is…"_

"_They've been through a lot, haven't they?" Momoe glanced through their profiles again before handing the folder back to Mrs. Mihashi. _

"_Yes, they have." She nodded. "And hearing everything from their point of view is really heartbreaking as well… I really hope that they're all able to lead good lives once they've overcome the obstacles that man has put upon them."_

"_I remember hearing about Nakumori's death on the news a few days before Mihashi's return." Momoe said. "But I had never expected those two events to be related."_

"_Getting… rid of Nakumori was part of Yoshimura's plan." Mrs. Mihashi said. "Because once the ringleader was out of the way, the underlings sort of self-destruct soon afterward, and that's part of the reason why it wasn't that hard for them to escape. But those underlings are still around, and the organization is currently working on finding and arresting them before any of them become the next Nakumori. That's why the boys are staying with me until further notice, while they handle that and decide on living arrangements for the group."_

"_I understand." Momoe said with a nod. "And don't worry; I'll make sure to keep their conditions in mind if they ever decide to come around with Mihashi."_

"_Thank you so much!" Mrs. Mihashi said. "I was feeling a little overwhelmed just knowing all of this myself, and since Ren is at practice nearly every day, I figured that it wouldn't be too outlandish to think that the other boys might end up here as well. And-And to make sure there weren't any unnecessary problems, I thought that telling you would be a good idea."_

"_It's no problem at all, Naoe." Momoe said. "By keeping me in the loop, I'll even make sure the rest of the team doesn't end up flipping out if they do decide to drop by unexpectedly."_

"_That'd be excellent, thank you!" Mrs. Mihashi put the folder back in her bag and stood from the bench. "And now that's been taken care of, I have to be off to work now."_

"_Have a good day." Momoe smiled and waved the other woman goodbye, but her smile fell once she was out of sight. Granted she understood those five boys were trying to break out of the status quo they had grown accustomed to as they were trapped under Nakumori's control, but those influences might still be affecting them strongly. She hoped that things would stay somewhat quiet even with them around; she wanted to avoid her team getting into unnecessary trouble._

_It was then that the majority of the Nishiura team had arrived at the field earlier than scheduled. Momoe avoided mentioning what Mrs. Mihashi had told her and committed to practice as normal. If the boys were to know, it would either have to be through Mihashi or herself, and she didn't want to bring it up unless the boys showed up on their own. And now that they have…_

'_Maybe it'd be wise to leave it to Mihashi to tell them_.' She thought. '_This also happened to him, so it should be his choice as to when he tells them what happened._'

* * *

**Part 6 of Angel Tears**

**Reviews are well-appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning for swearing and mentionings of forced illegal prostitution**

* * *

By the end of the school day, Mihashi was _beyond_ irritated. While his teammates didn't try to nag him about his new housemates, that particular group of five just did not get the concept of _leaving him alone_. It was mainly Michiro, but through the duration of that day, Mihashi's phone had gone off repeatedly with texts and calls from all five of them. And once the bell rang ending that day of learning, Mihashi was visibly agitated.

It didn't help when he found Michiro waiting at the school gate for him, wearing his usual girly getup, complete with the fake breasts again, and waving at other students as they ogled him. Mihashi's eyebrow twitched as he strode up to the redhead, who stood about a couple centimeters taller than the pitcher with the heels he was wearing.

"What're you doing here Michi?" he asked, trying to keep himself from strangling him.

"I was waiting for you, silly." Michiro smiled, making his voice slightly higher pitched to make him sound more like a girl. The cross-dressing housemate stepped up and wrapped his arms around Mihashi's neck. "I missed you."

"You know I'd see you at home." Mihashi replied, mentally noting '_whether I like it or not_.'

"But I wanted to see you." Michiro cooed, kissing Mihashi on the cheek. Various other students were staring at the apparent display of affection between a mystery girl and the baseball team's usually awkward and ditzy pitcher, but once Abe came bounding down the courtyard, they all scattered.

"Alright, let's leave this little _love-fest_ for somewhere less _public_." He said, a dark aura of fury emanating off of him. "We've got practice, remember?" Mihashi flinched slightly at Abe's loud voice, still having retained his developed half-fear of his catcher (the other half of his feelings toward him being admiration), and Michiro took notice. He glared over to the catcher, who wasn't intimidated. The redhead released Mihashi from his affectionate grasp and stepped over to the catcher, matching dark looks with him.

"Quit yelling at him." He glowered. "Or _else_."

"Tch, or else what?" Abe challenged, supposedly calling Michiro's bluff, only to end up shoved to the ground by Mihashi before Michiro lunged at him. The pitcher and the redhead's hands interlocked in a stalemate of strength against strength, and Mihashi didn't seem fazed by how evenly they were matched.

"Leave him alone, Michi." He said. "Before I throw you back to the field and call Jun to come pick you up and keep you deprived for the rest of the day."

"Angel, why're you so _mean_ to me?" Michiro broke the stalemate and clung to Mihashi around the waist, looking up at him with teary eyes and a pout. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

"Just don't pick on Abe." Mihashi said, prying the cross-dresser off him. "You'll just end up getting your clothes torn up."

"Ah yeah, you're right." Michiro spun around and struck a particularly provocative pose. "I can't mess this outfit up before seven; I'm going out with Jun later."

"Out where?" Mihashi led the redhead away from the school and towards the field. "Nowhere ridiculous I hope?"

"Depends on what you consider ridiculous." Michiro said, blindly following the conversation and the pitcher down the path. "He's thinking about dinner and a movie: a normal date kind of thing."

"As long as it's clean, I don't have a problem with it" was the last thing Mihashi said before they were out of earshot. Abe had since got up from the ground and glared in their general direction.

"C'mon Abe, let it go." Sakaeguchi said. "Let's just get to practice."

"I swear, if this keeps up, I'll end up wringing that cross-dresser's neck." Abe grumbled, walking to the field with the rest of the team.

"Is it because he's all over Mihashi or because he's not afraid of you?" Izumi asked.

"What do either of those things have to do with anything?!" Abe exclaimed. "He's an obnoxious prick and he gets on my nerves, end of story!"

"He's not obnoxious." Tajima spoke up. "I think he's just clingy. Jun wasn't around with him, so I guess the next best person to be all affectionate on would be Mihashi."

"Well he's _overly_ affectionate if you ask me." Abe grumbled. "He needs to keep his hands to himself."

"Oh, so it is Mihashi—" Izumi started to say before Abe interrupted him with "It's so he doesn't get distracted and throw crap all practice, that's what I mean!" "Sure, Abe, sure."

So now Mihashi wasn't the only one who was irritated, the team figured. This was affecting Abe too.

At the field, Mihashi gave Michiro a proper scolding before calling Jun to come pick him up, only to get voicemail. That was odd… Jun always had his phone on him and rarely let it go to voicemail. Something must be up… Closing his phone, he turned to the redhead, who was sitting lazily on the benches in the dugout.

"Okay, what're you planning?" he asked.

"Planning?" Michiro asked innocently. "Whatever could you mean?"

"Jun always answers his phone if he knows it's me." Mihashi said, staring him down. "What are you guys hiding that I don't know about?"

"C'mon Miha, stop being so suspicious all the time~" Michiro cooed, though glancing around nervously.

"I'm only suspicious when I have reason to be." Mihashi glared, backing Michiro farther down the bench. "Now tell me what's going the fuck on."

"I-I don't have to tell you anything!" Michiro exclaimed. "It was _all_ Shito's idea, I swear!"

"Well that's a start." Mihashi muttered. "And what _is_ Shito's idea?"

* * *

By the time the rest of the team arrived at the field, they found a full out _brawl_ between Mihashi and his housemates going on in center field. They had only seen their pitcher leading Michiro away only a few moments ago, what transpired and caused this giant fight?!

"Oh hey." Tat greeted the group from a spot on one of the benches in the dugout. "What's up?"

"We could ask you the same thing." Hanai said. "What's going on?"

"The guys are just trying to get Miha to cooperate." Tat said. "They want to tell you guys about what went down where we were all stuck at, but he's against it 100%."

"Well, we do have practice until late tonight." Abe said. "Shouldn't that be enough reason?"

"Actually, no, we got permission from Coach." Tat said, showing the team a recent text on his cell phone. "You guys get the night off so we can clear things up." A cloud of dust launched itself towards the dugout, but stopped short, and once the dust settled, a clearly pissed off Mihashi stood before them. He read through the texts Tat showed him and muttered something none of them could hear.

"Fine." He said. "Let's go." Shito and Michiro cheered in triumph and grabbed Mihashi by both arms before dragging him in the direction of his house. "But I'm not going to say a fucking word, you hear me?!"

"Sure, sure, Miha, sure, sure." The two laughed, and left the three older housemates to grab Mihashi's things and lead the team to his house.

* * *

Mihashi's parents weren't home, but the large group of boys all piled into the pitcher's bedroom. Mihashi broke out of Shito's and Michiro's grips and left the room, refusing to say a single word on the matter they were about to speak about.

"Then we'll take it upon ourselves to explain Mihashi's role in all this when we get down to it." Shito grinned once the blonde was gone. "Now, where should we begin?"

"How about with the general question," Abe suggested, "what happened during the four months Mihashi was gone?"

"No, no, you're only focusing on Miha that way." Michiro answered. "This little session is for all of us to tell you what happened to us _as well as_ Mihashi. Four months isn't going back far enough. But to answer your 'general question', care to tell him Jun?"

"Aside from Tat," Jun replied, "Ruki, Shito, Michiro, Mihashi and myself were considered the five favorite members of an illegal prostitution group run by a man named Nakumori Satake."

The shock that each of Mihashi's teammates felt made the air in the room tense and an awkward silent. None of them knew how to respond to what Jun revealed to them. Prostitution? None of them had even _considered_ that that was what Mihashi was doing while he was missing.

"…I can't see Mihashi doing that." Tajima was the first to speak.

"Oh trust us, motivation comes from strange places." Shito said. "Though for Miha it was the determination to escape, whereas for us it was just to survive another night."

"Why don't we go down the line?" Michiro grinned, loving the idea of story time. "We'll each do our own intros, and be sure to include a list of all your tattoos too!" Michiro was immediately up and removing his shirt, revealing the same fluffy pink cat tail from earlier. "I'll go first. My name is Hanegawa Michiro, stage name "Kitten", and I'm 16 like the rest of you. I was brought into the Ring, as we call it, when I was 11, and was immediately favored due to my charm and good looks, or so the Big Man said. I'm blood type O and born on September 6th, which makes me a Virgo. My identifying piece of ink work is my Cat's Tail, obviously, and I have the usual 'name tag', per se, on my collarbones just like the others do. I have an added collar around my neck and a cross on my ankle, just to remind me of my roots, even though they've since been 'uprooted' and disposed of."

"What do you mean by roots?" Mizutani asked.

"My parents were the religious type," Michiro explained, sitting down and holding out his right leg to show the small cross on the inside of his ankle, "though as you can obviously tell I'm not so much like them, not now at least. But I still have _some_ morals left though, so hopefully that'll be enough to appease them up in heaven."

"Heaven?" Sakaeguchi asked absent-mindedly.

"Yeah, that's kinda the thing that sets us apart from most of the other boys that got stuck in the Ring over the years." Michiro said, taking back his leg and sitting cross-legged. "Since we were the first to be recruited, per se, Nakumori was still working out the kinks in his plans. It wouldn't be until much later that he'd decide against it, but when he kidnapped us, he made sure to kill our families so we'd have nothing to return to, no reason to leave the Ring."

"However, of the first recruits, we five are the only survivors." Ruki added. "Hundreds of others that started out with us didn't make it to today, but with no families to mourn them, they've just been forgotten. The recent ones though were lucky enough to still have parents to run back to, and we're hoping the organization that helped us break out will let us keep in contact with them. Readjusting to normal life isn't easy; we know that for a fact."

"You wanna go next, Ruki?" Michiro asked.

"Sure." Ruki stood and took off his shirt. The team wasn't surprised, since they had seen his tattoos that morning. "I'm Kitagawa Ruki, stage name "Judge" and I'm 17. I entered the Ring when I was 12, around the same time Michi was brought in. My birthday is October 24th, I'm a Scorpio and my blood type is B. I'm pretty sure you guys got a good look at my tats this morning, but I'll list 'em anyway. The tipped scales on my lower back are just to go along with the stage name I was given, "Judge", and of course that name is tattooed on my back too. I'm pretty much the only one that doesn't have their name tattooed on their collarbones since, well, I didn't really care if I forgot my real name or not. And the dragon was just for the hell of it really, looks cool, doesn't it?"

"His dragon is some of my best work, if I do say so myself." Tat grinned proudly. "Though I'd have to say Shito's eyes are my absolute best work to date."

"You go next, Tat, and then Shito will go." Michiro said.

"Why me, though?" Tat asked. "I'm not really like you guys, being kidnapped and all."

"But you're one of us just the same." Michiro said. "You've got a story to tell, don't you?"

"Well, I guess so." The blonde shrugged and stood up to remove his jacket and shirt. "But my story is pretty different from you guys'."

"A story is a story, bro." Michiro grinned. "And it needs to get told."

"Fine." Tat tossed his clothes to the side and recited his introduction. "I'm Ishiori Takeru, 19. I don't have a stage name since I wasn't one of Nakumori's favorites, but I've gotten some nicknames over time like Tat and Inky, along with some others I'll keep to myself since the people who called me that I'm pretty sure have all shoved off to hell, so… yeah. I'm born May 27th so I'm a Gemini and my blood type is A if I remember correctly… Moving on, my main tattoo is "Inked" on my back. Note, I didn't do that one, and I'll explain in a bit. On my shoulders are just little blips and dabbles of different things since I used myself as practice, along with being used as practice too, and I have my name around my ankles."

"Anyway," he continued, "my story is different than the guys here. I didn't have parents since I was little, and I lived with my older brother Ritsu. He was a real jackass, seriously. He sold me off to some slave ring when I was 13 in order to get more money to feed his drinking and drug habits. But when the dudes who bought me noticed I had some artistic talent, they taught me how to do tattoos. Since then, that's been my business. I met Nakumori while I went out with the guys who bought me and he bought me from them. And for dirt cheap, mind you, but that's just because he got them piss drunk before making the bargain. Either way, he kept me in the Ring and actually paid me good money to do the tattoos the boys got, so I guess I didn't really have anything to complain about… But don't think it didn't weigh on my conscience when I had to give tramp stamps to fifteen-year-olds, I'm just glad that's over and done with."

"So you're still a tattoo artist today?" Tajima asked. Tat nodded.

"I set up a tent out front where I do my work for a decent price." He answered. "But once Yoshimura figures out some permanent living arrangements for me, I'll set up a real shop somewhere wherever I'm living."

"You're still going to keep doing tattoos?" Izumi asked. Tat shrugged.

"Well why not?" he said. "It's a decent way to make a living, lots of people these days are getting them done. And my work is pretty damn good, so I think it'll be fine. I could work odd jobs for extra money while I'm at it, no big deal."

"I think they're meaning to ask if you're going to be going to school." Nishihiro spoke up.

"Probably not." Tat admitted. "I mean, I could probably go to a night college just to get something on my plate so I can get a job easier. But we'll see where that goes. Yoshimura might just get me a tutor or something so I at least have my high school diploma."

"You've mentioned this 'Yoshimura' person a few times already." Hanai spoke up. "Who is he?"

"Yoshimura Kento is a detective." Shito answered. "He works for a much larger organization with close ties to the government, so that's how he was able to pull together such a big force to help us escape. He's in charge of us, basically, so he's the one finding living arrangements for us. He also provides for us for the most part, and if you ask me, the organization spoils us rotten. I mean, they give us whatever we want at the drop of a hat."

"Well, why?" Oki asked.

"I'm willing to bet it's just to keep our mouths shut about the entire fiasco." Tat said. "According to some reports, this whole Nakumori prostitution ring thing was supposed to have died off a couple years ago. But that was only because he stopped kidnapping. He started back up a couple months ago, and that's when we got him. Now they're just releasing how they had found him when he was in hiding and managed to off him. Though the real credit for Nakumori's death goes to Jun. Or would you rather say otherwise, Jun?"

"Let Shito complete his introduction first." Jun said. "Then I'll answer about that."

"O-kay!" Shito was up and shirtless in an instant, turning his back to the group to show his tattoos. "Name's Kazehoshi Shito, 16, blood type AB, birthday April 16th, which makes me an Aries. My stage name is 'Crystal Eyes' because that's the reason Nakumori kidnapped me: he liked my eyes. And I mean, sure, a lot of people don't have violet eyes, and it's mainly a genetic thing I get from my mom, and I was picked on for having weird eyes and thus I was insecure about it—"

"Get on with it, Shi." Tat spoke up. Shito stuck out his tongue at the blond before continuing.

"In short, I was _sorta maybe kinda_ glad _somebody_ liked my eyes." He said, twiddling his fingers. "But of course in the long run it wasn't a _good_ thing, seeing as I've had more bad times than good ones while in the Ring. Anyway, my tattoos are as follows: 'shattered' eyes on each of my shoulders, my stage name 'Crystal Eyes' between my shoulder blades, 'Shine On' on my left forearm, and 'Haruki' on my right forearm." Shito's face fell as he continued; the group could tell this hit him hard. "Haruki is my little brother by the way. He wasn't home when I was kidnapped and our parents killed, so I'm hoping that he's okay… I was 11 when I was taken and he was 6… He'll be 11 this year…"

"We asked Yoshimura to find out where he is." Michiro stood up and sat Shito down, the brunette immediately curling up against him. The redhead rubbed his back as Shito began to let out a series of strangled sobs. It made sense though; he had no way of knowing how his younger brother had been living for the past 5 years that he had been missing. "Jun, your turn."

Jun nodded and stood to remove his shirt. He nudged the edge of his pants downward to fully reveal the tattoos across his lower back and abdomen. "My name is Kato Jun, stage name 'Devil', and I'm 17. I've been in the Nakumori Ring for my entire life… because my name used to be Nakumori Jun. I'm his biological son. However since that man was undeserving of even the idea of a son, I've taken my mother's surname, Kato. My blood type is B and my birthday is February 14th, yes Valentine's day, which makes me an Aquarius."

"Ultimately the main point of my story is the fact that I was the one who brought about Nakumori's death." Jun continued. "Because I was the one who was closest to him, being his son. I hated my father for what he did and I feel there is no better place for him than hell, enough said. Either way, my tattoos are 'Perpetual' across my abdomen, 'Deceit' across my lower back and 'Devil' on the back of my neck. I also do not have the usual 'name tag' on my collarbones since my father never let me forget my name."

"So why'd he do it?" Tajima asked abruptly.

"…Even I don't know that." Jun said. "I would always try to get it out of him, but he would always say it was a secret. But it was obvious that that man was insane, so it doesn't really matter what his motives were. They were probably as screwed up as he was. See, he even had my mother killed before he started this whole mess. Or at least, he tried to have my mother killed."

"What do you mean?" Sakaeguchi asked.

"He tried but failed." Jun elaborated. "He sent out a hit-man to do the dirty work, but instead my mother comes home with that same hit-man tied up in the back of her car. Of course, my parents fought and I was taken by one of my father's lackeys somewhere far away from home, so I'm not even sure if my mother is still alive now."

"…And where does Mihashi fit into all of this?" Abe asked. "You guys said he tied into all your stories."

"He does." Shito uncurled himself and sat forward; the team could see his eyes were red. "Because it was when Mihashi joined the Ring that things started taking a turn for the better."

* * *

**Part 7 of Angel Tears**

**Reviews are well-appreciated!  
I'm very grateful for all the kind reviews I've gotten thus far, it keeps me writing the story!  
Thank you all very much!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning for swearing, mentionings of rape, suicide and substance abuse, and questions about virginity.**

* * *

"Care to elaborate on that?" Abe asked.

"Gladly, but let's give a short intro to our Mihashi first." Shito took a deep breath to refocus himself. "Mihashi Ren, stage name 'Angel Tears', 16, birthday May 12th, which makes him a Taurus. He hasn't told us his blood type, probably since he never needed to, unlike the rest of us. He was one of the lucky ones only having to be stuck in the Ring for four months, but regardless to how short his time there was, he made a damn big impact."

"Only three of his tattoos were mandatory." Tat added. "And those were the angel wings on his back, his name 'Angel Tears' between them and his name on his collarbones. And seeing as you guys haven't seen the wings yet, I'll tell you directly that it's my best work, hands down. While Shito's eyes took three hours to do, Angel's wings took _five fucking hours_, with frequent breaks, mind you, since the kid's skin was so damn sensitive."

"You said _only_ three." Abe interjected. "There are more than that, right?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you guys have seen the thick black 1 on the inside of his wrist." Tat nodded. "He asked for that himself, since he mentioned he was #1 on his baseball team. Then there were other little ones he asked for, like 'Ace' on the back of his neck, a damn good tramp stamp that sprouted from the name Nishiura on his lower back… and what was that last one?"

"The nine black stars that line his front pelvis," Jun reminded him. "And I have a good feeling as to what they represent."

"What? What?" Tajima asked eagerly, already highly curious in regards to whatever the boys were saying.

"I think it's for you guys." Ruki answered. "Since other than him, there are you nine guys on his baseball team."

"You guys were pretty much the reason Miha did so well in the Ring." Michiro said. "He didn't want to jeopardize the position of your team with his absence. Of course, the other reason for his determination was to also get _us_ out too, once he personally knew who we were."

"What do you mean personally?" Nishihiro asked.

"Granted there were 38 other guys with us in the Ring, we didn't interact with one another regularly." Jun explained. "Only during certain times, depending on Nakumori's whimsy, were we allowed to actually gather to interact and eat."

"And we'll put some _particular_ emphasis on how we didn't always eat every day." Ruki said. "It all depended on how well we behaved and how much work we did. But of course, as the bastard's favorites, we got special treatment."

"Going out was one thing," Shito listed, "then there were extravagant meals, shopping sprees, parties, anything we wanted really. But it all had to be approved by Nakumori first."

"Anyway, Mihashi adapted pretty quickly," Michiro continued, "and was a personal favorite of Nakumori's, but he needed to up himself in the ranks in order to be one of us, so Nakumori had us basically train him. He talked to us considerably during off sessions, and we all grew pretty close to him. He said that he'd work hard and think up a way for us all to make it out of there. But of course, it wasn't just us that he helped."

"When Mihashi joined us as favorites, he used his special privileges." Jun said, his stoic face cracking into a slight smile. "But he refused to use them for himself. He always asked for things like full meals and such, but he always gave them to the younger boys, the ones who weren't as well off as he was. That's pretty much the reason why he's grown so thin." Abe's eyebrow twitched. That little… Kindness was one thing but there was no reason for him to keep _himself_ from eating! "To be honest, I'm surprised he was able to do so much without Nakumori opposing him."

"Seriously?" Michiro asked. "Did you not _see_ how fucking _precious_ he was?! I was surprised that nobody fucking _worshipped_ his ass!"

"I'm pretty sure everyone was busy worshipping _your_ ass, Michi." Shito laughed. "But I have to agree with Jun. Mihashi changed a lot of things. The other boys were allowed to get together more often and support each other while they were all trapped there; he got them better hours for sleeping and recovering from a night's work; and he saved our asses too."

"He did?" Izumi asked.

"Yeah." Michiro said. "When he came around, we were all pretty screwed up, and we grew attached to him pretty quickly because he seemed to keep his wits about him even through his adjustment. He reminded us that our lives weren't over because we had been stuck there for five years, we just needed to get the power to bust out, and that was all. He supported us and dug us out of the grave we laid ourselves in… me especially."

Michiro paused before he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small pack of baby wipes. A few tentative rubs to his wrists wiped away the makeup that had been applied, revealing dark horizontal scars. The redhead's smile was sad as his eyes glossed over with tears.

"If it weren't for him, I'd be already dead." His voice trembled as it came out just above a whisper. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and took a breath before speaking again. "I… I felt cornered, trapped even. The monotony of being… a fucking _whore_ just… just didn't make anything feel worthwhile anymore. And the harsh reality of… just being alone, without someone out there waiting for you to come home, a family. It hurt." He glanced over to the other housemates and took another breath. "And the others, as far as I understand… have also tried to escape, but not like I did."

One by one they nodded, looking to each other for yet another confirmation that they were all close to losing themselves when they were trapped.

"Miha changed all that." Michiro said. "I mean, he looked so innocent and delicate but he turned out so much stronger than all of us… I'm glad that it was him. Anyone else who found me bleeding to death in the bathroom would've probably already assumed I was dead. But Miha… he didn't let me go. He made someone get help, get Jun. And I pulled through in the end."

"We all did, thanks to him." Jun nodded.

"Of course, if we went straight to him and said that, he'd deny it." Shito said. "He doesn't think he made such a significant impact in our lives, but that's far from the truth."

"Yeah, and no matter how scary he can get, he's always been a good kid." Ruki added. "The Ring didn't fuck him up as badly as they did us."

"Though that's just because he was only there for four months." Michiro replied. "If he had been there any longer, and gave Nakumori time to really break him, then he may have ended up worse than us if you think about it."

"Let's just be glad that's never going to happen." Shito said before clapping his hands. "So that pretty much ends the general background of what happened. Any questions?"

"Yeah, how'd you get out?" Hanai asked. "Sure you said Yoshimura's force helped you, but it couldn't have been that easy, was it?"

"According to Yoshimura-san, he got a lead when he was asked to look for a recently missing boy." Michiro answered. "I think it was Mihashi, but we're not entirely sure. Either way, one thing led to another and he managed to find out where Nakumori was holding us. He went undercover and met with us, and we all thought up a plan to escape. Giving the task of getting rid of Nakumori to Jun, all we had to do was handle his lackeys and work with the other boys to get them to cooperate. We picked a day and just waited. And once Nakumori was dead, the entire place went to hell now that his subordinates didn't have someone in power to give orders; and we got the kids out in no time flat."

"We took the time to deliver them back to their homes before trying to figure out where we would go." Jun added. "However, some things didn't go as planned thanks to Tat's reckless driving—"

"It wasn't my fault!" Tat exclaimed. "You guys were distracting me!"

"—and Mihashi ended up falling out of the van and into the woods." Jun finished. "Thankfully we were already in Saitama, so when the police came across him, they took him to the nearest hospital. We met them there, made sure Mihashi was settled, since he didn't exactly get out of the Ring without taking a few hits like the rest of us and the fall didn't help, and notified his parents. We stayed with Yoshimura-san for a time before unanimously deciding to stay with Mihashi while the organization handled finding living arrangements for us."

"And we're currently waiting for word from Yoshimura-san in regards to an update." Shito added. "The organization was considering enrolling at least four out of the five of us into a local high school, since, duh, we couldn't go to school while we were in the Ring; and we're planning to suggest Nishiura."

"I'd be the one who'd end up not having to go to school since I'm old enough to go to college now." Tat said. "But they might enroll me as a senior so I can at least get my high school diploma. Eh, I'm sure they'll work something out."

"If you guys do end up in Nishiura, Coach might ask you guys to join the team." Izumi spoke up. "Would you?"

"Well, _duh_, why wouldn't we?" Shito beamed, the question earning a couple of groans. "Oh come on guys, you have to admit you had fun! Besides, how else are we gonna keep our strength up? Baseball is an excellent sport!"

"I guess we just don't share your enthusiasm." Ruki said, looking a bit tired as he sat beside Tat, who nodded. "I mean, if she asked, we'd join, but what are the chances of actually playing?"

"Pretty high, actually." Tajima said. "You guys just need some practice to hone your skills. I don't doubt that you would make a strong addition to our team. Right, guys?"

The rest of the Nishiura team glanced around at one another before nodding. What Tajima said was true; those guys were really strong, and that could serve them well behind the plate and on the field. Shito already had experience playing various positions, so of course he'd be a shoe-in once he got back into the habit. Michiro was shown to be very fast, and along with Ruki and Tat showed immense strength with a bat in hand. Jun seemed average, but if anything, extra players would serve the team well, especially if any of them got injured or too exhausted to play. And as a plus, since none of them had ever played in an actual game before, no other team would know how to handle them since there was no data on them.

"Moving on from that, I have a question." Abe said. "I know that it was hard in the Ring for you guys, but what exactly warped Mihashi's personality so much? He wasn't nearly as… I guess dark would be the word, when he was with us before all this happened."

"In order for Mihashi to survive in the Ring, he had to change that shy and jittery personality of his." Shito answered. "So in place of that personality, he developed three others that served him much better. One was the innocent Mihashi, the one who could control his tears and bring grown men to their knees. Two was the older brother sort of Mihashi, who could handle and help the younger boys while remaining calm in emergencies. And the third was… the current Mihashi, I guess, the one who's pretty profane, mildly frightening and particularly dominating."

"But what _caused_ them?" Abe rephrased, already vastly irritated with all this drama. Shito huffed and told it to him straight.

"After Nakumori raped him to quote unquote 'break him in', he figured out that Mihashi's current shy personality wouldn't provide much of a good hook for customers for him." He said. "So he told us to figure out a means of changing him so he could start bringing in a profit. The result was appealing to sadistic and guilt-trippy clients who liked seeing him cry, so that brought about the innocent-in-appearance Mihashi. So I guess you could say we caused that one, since we taught him to control when he cries. Secondly, there were a lot of younger boys who were kidnapped, raped and put out to make profit along with him, and not all of them adjusted well. Mihashi sucked up the fact that he himself was scared and brought about the second personality to convince the others that they were safe, at least with him. This second personality was his doing, and showed that he was willing to be responsible for the younger boys, which he was. The third was Nakumori's doing. With becoming a favorite, you had to complete a certain set of tasks to prove your worth to him. One of those tasks was successfully assassinating a person of Nakumori's choosing. Mihashi developed the third personality in order to carry out this mission without much remorse, and to provide a means of being taken seriously by others around him. That showed that he could have power despite his delicate-looking appearance. Does that explain it, Abe?"

Abe and the rest of the team were struck speechless at how blunt Shito was in his explanation, but they ultimately understood why. Every aspect of their situation, now that they had successfully survived it, was a touchy subject for them, and mulling over it showed that it had made them bitter, even if they weren't talking about themselves. Also, on the team's end, they were all a little surprised at how a simple four months could have changed Mihashi so much.

'_I remember when I first met him; I never thought Mihashi could change_.' Abe thought. '_At least not without psychiatric help, but now…_'

"W-Why don't we change the subject?" Mizutani spoke up. "Here's a question, what do all of you plan to do after you're out of school or settle into your new lives?"

"I'm finding my brother for one thing." Shito said with a sad smile on his lips. "Then I'll probably enter the police force. My dad was an officer himself, so it's an idea."

"I'm obviously opening my own tattoo parlor," Tat said. "But maybe I'll ask Yoshimura-san to find out what happened to my brother. You know, if I ever feel the need to smack the douchebag across the face a few times."

"If it turns out that we can get into contact with the other boys that we managed to break out," Ruki said, "I might go visit one of them to see how he's holding up."

"You mean little Hoshi, right~?" Michiro poked the older boy a few times. "You know, the kid that is _five years younger than you_ that you couldn't stop fawning over?"

"You shaddup, the gap ain't that big." Ruki grumbled, glaring over to the redhead. Michiro laughed and scooted back over to Jun to hide behind him. "And besides, you guys know as well as I do that adjusting to normal life isn't so easy."

"Yeah, we know." Shito said while looking quite amused at what he saw. It seemed that the gloomy air had completely dissipated, at least for the while. Standing up, he stretched and headed for the door. "I'm hungry, who wants snacks?" Everyone raised their hand and Shito laughed. "Alright, I'll be sure to get Miha's ass up here too. Be right back!"

Once the door shut behind him, Michiro raced to Mihashi's closet and pulled out a box. Opening the window and jumping out, nearly giving the Nishiura team a heart attack with such a sudden stunt, he left without a word. But as shouts could be heard from downstairs, the group knew he was okay, and up to something.

"What do you think he's doing?" Suyama asked.

"Probably something that's going to end up embarrassing Miha in front of you guys." Ruki chuckled. "Anything could've been in that box."

"Oh, here's a question," Oki spoke up, "why does Michiro like dressing up like a girl?" Tat and Ruki looked over to Jun expectantly.

"…What?" he asked.

"Don't you know?" Ruki asked. "You guys are dating after all."

"How'd you guys end up going out anyway?" Tajima asked. "The entire situation doesn't sound like the best place for blooming romances, y'know?" The room fell silent as Jun's eyes wandered around to everyone's faces, possibly trying to think of an acceptable answer, but…

"I honestly don't have an answer." Jun said, not making eye contact, his green eyes making their way up to the ceiling. "I-I guess it just sort of… happened."

"That couldn't be a fatter lie!" Michiro's voice suddenly came from the other side of the door, startling the group. "But forgetting about that, someone pass me my heels, the black ones, would ya? They should be in Miha's closet."

There was a momentary pause before Tajima got up and went to Mihashi's closet. Opening its doors, his eyebrows nearly flew off his face as his eyes widened. The closet was completely filled with different kinds of clothes and accessories, which made it look like a girl's closet. Looking along the floor he found a pair of black heels like Michiro said, but they were accompanied by long fishnet stockings.

"Uhh…" Tajima fought the dark red covering his face. "You… You want the stockings too?"

"Oh yeah, definitely!" Michiro laughed. Tajima went to the door and opened it slightly to pass the items through. He honestly didn't want the redhead to see him blushing like a virgin, which he so obviously was, despite his frequently perverted statements. "Thanks hun~!" Michiro shuffled off, and once they were sure he was out of earshot, the guys relaxed. Ruki laughed.

"You guys looked like you were all holding your breaths there." He said. "What, are you guys all scared of tiny little Michi?"

"C'mon Ruki, you know Michi ain't tiny." Tat said. "Get him pissed and he can even throw _you_ down over his knee and make you beg for mercy. And don't make me mention that incident last year with that bondage—"

"Yeah, don't mention that." Ruki reached over to try to cover Tat's mouth, but the other blonde leaned out of his reach, laughing.

"So is there anything else on your minds that you'd like to ask us?" Jun asked, obviously attempting to change the subject.

"Well… Shito called Ruki an alcoholic this morning." Sakaeguchi said. "I take it that's true?"

"Yeah, it's true." Ruki nodded, leaning back against the wall. "I mean, it's like what Michi mentioned a little earlier. As a means of coping with the situation we were all stuck in… while he cut, I drank. I found out pretty quickly that I had a pretty damn high tolerance for alcohol, and the buzz I managed made me forget nearly everything about how shitty everything was, so I just started keeping a bottle nearby wherever I went. But these days, I've definitely cut back. I'm no drunken bastard like a lot of our customers were."

"And honestly, now that we're all free to actually have our own lives again; those kinds of coping mechanisms we developed have no use anymore." Tat said. "So we're starting to break out of those old habits."

"But some habits are harder to break than others." Jun said. "Especially in Michiro's case, if you know what I mean."

"Oh I think we do." Ruki laughed. "It'll be a miracle if he stops being his hypersexual self."

"He's getting there, he's getting there." Jun said. "It's just taking awhile."

The silence that then filled the room was tense and absolutely awkward. The group seemed to focus on the sounds that could be heard from downstairs, not even attempting to say a word to each other. They wondered what was taking so long down there, but noted that there were a total of fifteen of them, so pulling together enough food for them might take awhile… But each boy in the room tried to think of _some way_ to start up a conversation, seeing as this silence was highly uncomfortable—

"So who in here's a virgin?" Michiro appeared in the window he had jumped out of before, causing the majority of the group to jump in surprise and turn equally dark shades of red.

"What kind of question is that?!" Abe exclaimed, just as red.

"Well it's _way_ too quiet in here." Michiro answered, climbing into the window and revealing the black and white maid's outfit he wore, complete with the black heels and stockings Tajima had passed to him through the door. "So I figured I'd come in here and liven things up!"

"What are you doing dressed like that?" Jun asked, his eyebrow twitching slightly.

"I was helping get the snacks ready, _duh_." Michiro answered, stepping over and taking his original seat beside Jun. "I mean, I wanted Miha in this at first, but he was in the kitchen when I went down there, and I didn't want to anger him too much where he had plenty of weaponry to work with. So here I am in this _adorable_ hell of an outfit, pretty sure he'd look just as good if only he'd put it on."

"Mihashi isn't into dressing up as much as you are, Michiro." Jun said, rolling his eyes. "And if you were going to go help, why aren't you down there?"

"Because it's too damn quiet in here!" the redhead jumped up onto the table and pointing his finger in the air. "So be honest with me here, who's a virgin and who ain't?"

"I'm pretty sure other than you guys; we're all virgins in here." Abe said.

"But you can't speak for the rest of the guys." Michiro said. "So for everyone not to be embarrassed, I say put your heads down and raise your hands if you're _not_ a virgin." When the guys barely moved, Michiro fumed. "C'mon, at least humor me until the food gets up here, sheesh!"

Glancing around at one another, the Nishiura team complied with Michiro's request. They all figured that this would just prove what Abe had said, but when they heard Michiro giggling, they had the feeling that wasn't the case.

"Okay, c'mere you two!" Michiro said, and two voices could be heard being dragged out of the room. Once the door closed, Jun let them bring their heads up, and the group immediately noticed that Izumi and Mizutani were missing from the room.

"You're kidding…" Sakaeguchi said.

"Well you guys are teenagers." Ruki said. "Experimentation is inevitable, y'know?"

"You guys are teenagers too!" Hanai said, blushing furiously just at the ideas the word 'experimentation' brought to his head.

"Yeah, but you guys gotta realize we've already done our experimenting." Ruki replied. "To the point we know what we like, how we like it and who we like it with."

From the other side of the door, Michiro's giggles took a mischievous tone, and once he kicked the two Nishiura players back into the room, he stood up on the table again.

"Okay, next question!" he grinned. "Who thinks who's gonna lose their virginity first?"

"Why are you centering your questions around the topic of virginity of all things?" Tat asked.

"Because I'm bored and I like watching these guys squirm." Michiro said bluntly. "Besides, with me around someone just might end up—"

"If you honestly think I'll let you fuck or get fucked by anyone in this room other than Jun, you're wrong Michi." Mihashi said in the open doorway; Shito behind him. The two walked into the room holding trays of food. "Hypersexual or not, Jun will be the only one in or on you at any given moment, understand?"

"Perfect timing, Angel! _Strip_!" Michiro exclaimed.

"Get off the table." Mihashi wasn't fazed by, nor complied with, Michiro's request. "Or I'll burn that dress while you're still in it."

"Juuuuun, Angel's being mean to me!" Michiro whined, leaping off the table and onto Jun's lap.

"Jun, take care of him." Mihashi said, and Jun stood up, flinging Michiro over his shoulder. "And keep the noise to a minimum."

"I'll try my best." He said, and left the room with Michiro, the redhead questioning where they were going and why. The moment the door was closed, Mihashi and Shito placed the trays on the table and took Michiro and Jun's places.

In order to avoid any more particularly awkward conversations, the group of boys delved into the snacks immediately, again bringing another silence upon them. Now with Mihashi in the room, all of his teammates were tempted to ask him for his take of what happened, but they also wanted to avoid either angering him or bringing up something he or his housemates didn't want to dwell on. However, it wasn't any of them that struck up the conversation.

The one who cut through the prolonged silence was the loud voice of a man coming from downstairs.

"I know you're here, get your asses down here so help me God! We're settling this and we're settling this _now_!"

"Oh, I didn't know Yoshimura-san was coming today." Shito said. "Perfect timing."

* * *

**Longest chapter yet -I should stop making them so long-**

**Reviews are well-appreciated! Next chapter in progress!  
(If you're wondering about certain things I may have neglected to cover, please mention them in a review so I don't end up with a plot hole!)**

**Thank you!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Minor warning for mentioning of sex and pornography.**

* * *

The Nishiura team hesitated in following Mihashi and his housemates to greet the man waiting for them downstairs. With a glaring and tired-looking face covered in stubble and five-o-clock shadow, this Yoshimura fellow didn't appear to be official at all. His dark brown hair that reached to his chin was a matted mess and his grey eyes were drooping. He was disheveled from head to toe, carrying a briefcase that was exploding with various folders and papers. While the Nishiura team was skeptical about conversing with this man, the housemates didn't feel intimidated in the slightest.

"Yo, Yoshi-san, what's up?" Shito said with a wave.

"My blood pressure, that's what's up." Yoshimura answered gruffly. "Handling all the bloody paperwork for you five is driving me up the wall."

"Jeez, when was the last time you had a shave, man?" Tat asked, running a hand over his own bald chin. "Or some sleep for that matter, you're a mess."

As the three out of five housemates poked at the obviously weary and grumpy detective, Mihashi disappeared to the kitchen for a moment before returning with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Here," he held out the small tray the cup was on, "the bathroom's free upstairs."

"Thanks." Yoshimura nodded, and passed his briefcase to the blonde before taking the cup with him up the stairs. Mihashi situated the bursting leather case onto a coffee table in the nearby living room.

"Wait, you knew he was coming?" Ruki asked. Mihashi nodded.

"While you guys were chatting upstairs, he called and said he'd be coming over today." The pitcher answered. "So I made some coffee and left some towels and a razor in the bathroom upstairs. He's been working for a good few days on very little sleep thanks to you guys."

"He's the one who volunteered to go through our paperwork and settle all the stuff _for us_." Shito said. "If he works himself into the ground, it's on him. I mean, if I knew how to do my own paperwork, I would but since I don't… yeah."

"Regardless, let's just give him some space." Mihashi said. "He has some things to discuss with us, so once he's out of the shower and fully awake…" Mihashi trailed off as he raised an eyebrow, taking a look up the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Tat asked.

"…Yoshimura-san." Mihashi called up the stairs, and the detective peeked his head into the entrance to the stairwell in recognition. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm pretty sure Jun and Michiro are currently occupying the restroom." He said, and instantaneously Mihashi was held back by Ruki while Shito raced up the stairs.

"I'll get it, I'll get it," He said, "don't let Miha go Ruki or he'll kill 'em." The violet-eyed housemate knocked on the bathroom door a few times before turning the handle to let himself in.

"Dude—Shit—what the fuck—Ahn~—close the door!" Michiro shouted. "Can't you see—Ah fuck—we're a little _busy_?"

"Yoshimura's here." Shito said. A loud thud came from the room and Michiro groaned.

"Way to kill a good hard-on, man." He grumbled. "What does he want that's so important?"

"He needs the bathroom before we start discussing things." Shito answered. "So why don't you guys move back to your room to finish up?"

"Michiro forgot to change the sheets this morning." Jun said. Shito sighed.

"I'll go get you new sheets, just get out of the bathroom." He said. "Miha's already ready to strangle you both."

"Fine." Michiro said, but before he could try leaving the restroom, Shito told him to cover up. "What for? We're all guys here, Shi, it's not like they haven't seen a _dick_ before, I mean come _on_."

"Alright, but don't blame me when Miha has you castrated." Shito warned, and led him out of the bathroom. Jun made sure he covered himself up, while Michiro just didn't bother with anything. "It's all yours, Yoshi-san."

"Thanks…" Yoshimura nodded, and entered the bathroom to finally shower and shave, a process he had been neglecting for the past several days.

"Now just wait in the room while I get back with your sheets." Shito said, and headed off downstairs where Ruki and Tat had dragged Mihashi off to the living room to keep an eye on him. They had to make sure he didn't try to head upstairs and strangle the two boyfriends. However, once Michiro noticed a few of the Nishiura teammates taking a peek out of the doorway to Mihashi's room, he pinned Jun to the nearest wall. Hooking his leg around the older boy's hip, he caused the towel that was around him to fall. The redhead snickered before pulling Jun's head down into a long kiss. During the occasional break for air, he would notice the few players still watching, and he'd smile to himself. _Virgins_.

"I said get in the room!" Shito said as he lugged a set of sheets up the stairs. He didn't hesitate to smack Michiro on the ass before kicking the door to their room open. "Come on already!"

Michiro laughed before pulling Jun into the room after him, closing the door behind them. And once Shito left the room after a few minutes, he entered Mihashi's room next door, finding half of the Nishiura baseball team a bright shade of red. He laughed.

"C'mon you guys, let's head downstairs." He said. "If you guys are red now, you'll be a bunch of tomatoes if you hear those two going at it."

The moment he said that, the entire team was rushing downstairs with the snacks in hand. No more awkward boners thank you very much!

The living room downstairs was quiet when the team entered, Ruki and Tat sitting on the couch… on top of Mihashi. Shito didn't question it and sat between them, also on top of Mihashi.

"Uh…" Sakaeguchi said, "Can he still breathe under there?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Ruki said. "He'd just throw us off if he was uncomfortable."

"In that case," Mihashi said, his back quickly arching and tossing the three off of him, "get the fuck off of me."

"Jun and Michi are back in their room like you wanted, Angel." Shito said. "So you don't have to kill them today."

"Good to hear." Mihashi answered. "Now all we have to do is wait for Yoshimura to finish up upstairs."

"And it's still early." Tat said. "So what should we do in the meantime?"

"I know!" Shito said, and reached for the edge of Mihashi's shirt. The pitcher swiftly smacked the hand away, but Shito persisted. They were equally matched in speed, but it wasn't long until Shito grabbed Mihashi's hands.

"Come on, Miha, just show them!" he said, "It's not going to kill you!"

"I said no and I mean no!" Mihashi exclaimed. "You can't make me show them!"

"Challenge accepted." Ruki stood up, cracking his knuckles. "Tat, grab his legs!"

"I don't think so!" Mihashi said, using his leg to kick Shito up and over his head, knocking him into Ruki. Shito lost his grip on Mihashi's hands and the pitcher slid off the couch as the two larger housemates caught their violet-eyed friend. The pitcher didn't hesitate to go for the nearest window, hopping out and latching onto the overhang, lifting himself up and onto the roof.

"God dammit, get 'im!" Shito exclaimed, following suit. Ruki and Tat sighed and took the stairs instead of trying to play acrobats on the roof.

The air became tense and quiet as the Nishiura team tried to hear anything that could be happening outside, but for some reason, everything was quiet. It wasn't until Jun came downstairs that some light was shed on the situation.

"They're going at it pretty persistently." He said. "But don't expect to be hearing a ruckus from them. One of the rules is that we don't cause any sort of disruption in the neighborhood, especially at this time of day."

"Weren't you with… Michiro?" Hanai asked hesitantly.

"Michiro got distracted." Jun answered. "He wants Mihashi to show you his tattoos just as much as Shito does, so he joined them in chasing him up on the roof." A set of thuds were heard outside the window Mihashi had jumped out of and Jun spotted movement. "And now they're headed out back. Care to watch?" He stepped towards the window and leaned out before motioning the team to the window as well. Tajima was the first to join him.

"It's probably best if we stay a decent distance from all the action," Jun said, stepping back from the window as Tajima leaned out with his jaw wide open, "the lot of them have the tendency of being quite violent during these kinds of confrontations."

"…Where'd they get those poles?" Tajima asked once he got his mouth to close.

"Michiro… requested them." Jun said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Still very lively for having recently busted out of a literal prison. But that's just like him, one to easily adapt."

"Uh… he didn't request them for fighting, did he?" Tajima asked, still staring outside.

"No, he asked for them for… _other_ reasons in particular." Jun cleared his throat before taking another look out the window. Sure enough, Michiro was off to the side, grinding himself shamelessly on the piece of stainless steel. Jun sighed. "Exactly my point, that's what happens when he doesn't let himself finish. I better go get him. We can't have the neighbors seeing him like that."

Jun made sure to nudge Tajima away from the window before heading outside through the back door. However, neither he nor Michiro came back in through the same door, instead being heard climbing up on the overhang and into the window of their room. The rest of the Nishiura team joined Tajima near the window, a little hesitant, but all the more curious as to what was going on out there. But when the majority of them reached the window, a slam was heard in the direction of the back door, and Shito ran in.

"We got 'im!" he grinned, and Ruki, panting heavily, dragged in Mihashi by the ankles. After letting his feet fall to the carpet, the pitcher refused to lift his head off the floor.

"Come on, Miha, you lost fair and square—" Shito started to say, but Mihashi interrupted him.

"It was three against one!" he exclaimed, peeling his face off the floor to shout at his housemate.

"Yeah, and you've beaten us plenty times before this, so it's totally fair." Shito said. "Now take off the damn shirt and show them already, jeez!"

Mihashi set a glare on the brunette before begrudgingly standing up and pulling off his shirt. He sat back on the couch, but allowed his back to face his teammates. He reached back and slightly pulled up the back part of his hair to show the word 'Ace', while the tattoos on his back were clearly visible from where he sat. He didn't try to show them the nine stars on his front pelvis, however, since those came quite close to his nether regions and he wanted to keep himself decent for the most part.

And while his teammates didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, they couldn't help but gawk at the pair of wings that adorned Mihashi's back. The details were so intricate, with the icy hues of blues and violets along with the sharp black lines that showed the shape of the wings, they understood why Tat said that it had taken him so long to complete them. They could only imagine how much it had hurt to get them done, and against his will for that matter.

"…So are we just going to spend the rest of the night awkwardly staring at Mihashi's tattoos?" Yoshimura asked as he came down the stairs, looking much more refreshed then how he had first entered the house. He used a towel that hung around his shoulders on top of the black t-shirt he now wore to dry his hair. The shirt and the jeans he had on possibly belonged to Mihashi's father. However, no one bothered to ask. "Or are we actually going to talk about something important?"

"It depends on what you deem to be 'important', Yoshi." Shito said. "What do we need to talk about?"

"Well, the Organization decided that you five need to have some school experience." Yoshimura said, finding his stuffed briefcase and prying it open. He found what he was looking for and scanned it before speaking again. "We have a list of schools here that fill the criteria, and once you're enrolled, you'll be there for the rest of the school year until you quote unquote 'graduate'. Granted only Tat will have to be there for one year while the rest of you have two—"

"Is Nishiura on that list?" Shito asked, bouncing around the detective as he tried to sneak a peek at the paperwork. "We wanna go to Nishiura!"

"It's on the list, but—"

"'But' nothing! Nishiura it is!" Shito proclaimed, only to get a short smack to the head by Jun, who had followed Yoshimura downstairs. "Ow! What was that for— oh, hey Jun. Did you finish fucking Michi yet?"

"Would I even be down here if the answer was no?" Jun asked, rolling his eyes. "But back on the subject at hand, picking a school isn't going to be as easy as it sounds. We need to let them know about our mannerisms and what happened to us, as well as give them fair warning to the markings we've sustained."

"What, you mean they won't let us in if we got tattoos, is that what you're saying?!" Shito exclaimed. Jun nodded. "But that's stupid!"

"Teenagers our age don't normally have tattoos, Shito." Jun answered. "It may pose a problem, especially if we indirectly influence the other students."

"The general dress code for Nishiura can cover up a decent number of your tattoos." Mihashi said, pulling his shirt back on. "But a few might end up showing through, like any that are particularly low on the arms. Yoshimura already talked to the principal on my behalf since my 1 easily shows, and he let it slide, though I'm not sure about you guys. You're not exactly… the most discreet of people. Also, changing for PE might raise some eyebrows, you know?"

"Yeah, since we're pretty inked up." Ruki nodded.

"I don't think it'll be a problem." Tat said. "I mean, if we explain the situation and not openly flaunt them around, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Of course, we gotta take Michi's personality into consideration." Shito said. "We can't have him jumping any of his classmates."

"Controlling him will ultimately fall onto my shoulders." Jun said. "As well as Mihashi's, if he chooses to help keep him in line."

"I'll try to refrain from killing him in the process." Mihashi said. "But I'm responsible for all of you, since you're living with me after all."

"Oh, speaking of that, have there been any updates in regards to our place of residence?" Shito asked. "Since we obviously can't stay here forever."

Yoshimura dug through his briefcase again before pulling out another set of papers. "Let's see…" Flipping through a few pages, he read over the one he stopped on before continuing. "We're focusing on locating and contacting any possible relatives for you five before we go letting you live on your own. However, Tat is the only one whose searches have come up empty thus far, so we're finding options for a place for him."

"…Hey, Yoshi. Do you mind stopping the search, at least on my part?" Ruki asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Yoshimura raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" he asked in return, but Ruki glanced over to the Nishiura team before looking back to the detective. Yoshimura understood. "Alright, talk to me later about it."

"…Have you had any luck thus far for the rest of us?" Shito asked. Yoshimura knew what—or more specifically _who_—the brunette was referring to.

"Nothing has come up just yet." He said. "It appears that any relatives we've found through your familial records don't live in the same vicinity as your previous homes, so it's taking us awhile to find them all." Shito looked disappointed, but nodded; he'd still have to wait.

"But back on the topic of school," Yoshimura changed the subject, "are you all set on Nishiura? If so, I'll make an appointment with the principal for this week." The four out of five housemates looked to each other and nodded. Majority ruled, so Michiro's vote wasn't required, though if Jun planned on going to Nishiura, then Michi would follow close behind. "Alright. I'll inform my superiors about your choice, and they'll make preparations accordingly."

As if on cue, the detective's cell phone rang, and he promptly fished it out of his pockets. In the next room, Mihashi's house phone also started ringing, and the pitcher left the room to go answer it. Yoshimura stepped out of the room to keep the call private, and the large group of boys stood in the living room, wondering what else there was to do. It hadn't taken the housemates long to explain their situation to them, so they wondered if they should call it a day and head home. But before any of them could voice that particular question, Michiro came bounding down the stairs, a large box in hand. He glanced around before sticking the box in a nearby closet.

"Where's Angel?" he asked.

"Answering the phone, why?" Abe asked. Michiro grinned.

"I found a little something-something in Jun's closet." He said. Jun pinched the bridge of his nose before inquiring just _what_ did he find in his closet. "Oh, you know what it is Jun~ But we need to get Miha out of the house before I—" Mihashi returned to the living room before the redhead could finish his sentence, his hand immediately covering his mouth to stop him from speaking.

"My mom needs me to step out to buy something for dinner." The pitcher said. "Do you guys think you'll be staying?"

"Oh, probably not…" Nishihiro said, looking to the rest of the team. "We wouldn't want to impose too much."

"Alright, well, I'll be back in a little while." Mihashi nodded. "And since Yoshimura's here, I'm allowed to leave the others here without worrying that they'll destroy the house."

"Pf, as if we _would_." Michiro laughed. "Come off it, Miha, you gotta trust us a little more than that."

"If I could, I would." Mihashi said. "But four months in the Ring only builds certain kinds of bonds. Just behave and I won't have to chop your dicks off while you're sleeping." Michiro flinched and grabbed his crotch in fear; he knew that Mihashi was usually set on keeping those kinds of promises.

"I'll keep him in line, Miha, just go and do your shopping." Jun said while ushering the pitcher out, half to protect Michiro, half to avoid an actual attempt at removing the redhead's genitals. That definitely wouldn't go well.

And once Mihashi was out of sight down the road, Michiro ran back to the closet, only to be stopped by Jun.

"Michi, I think you've caused enough trouble today—"

"Sure I've done plenty of _that_." Michiro interrupted. "But I haven't hit my boner quota!"

"C'mon Michi, I'm sure the guys are tired of hearing it—" Shito tried chiming in, but Michi promptly grabbed Jun by the collar and threw him at the brunette.

"When in Rome, let them watch porn I say!" Michiro exclaimed, opening the closet door and lugging out the box. "Who has their preferences, I'm pretty sure I have enough for everyone!"

"If you think I'm going to let you pass out pornography_ you shouldn't even have_ to these guys, you got another thing coming." Yoshimura reentered the living room after finishing his call. "We've already had this discussion Michiro."

"It's not like I'm handing them a nuclear weapon and asking them to go into Tokyo to test it, Yoshi!" Michi retaliated. "It's just porn, all guys watch it! It's a safe and green way to get off, plus it can keep your hormones in check. And as a legitimate spokesperson for the past five years, I think I know what I'm talking about."

"I'm not going to comment on that," Yoshimura said, "but it's not only that you're all minors; that can be considered child pornography in your hands right now. And you can get arrested for that."

"Hey, who said it was just _my_ stuff in here?" Michiro said, putting down the box and rifling through it. "There's lots of stuff in here, with _legal_ porn-stars even. I can just divide the legal stuff from the personal stuff; will that satisfy you Mr. Legal-Person-Man?"

Yoshimura sighed. Michiro could be horribly persistent when he wanted to be, so he allowed for that much, but still forbade him from passing any around to the Nishiura baseball team. Michiro continued to whine, but when Jun handed him a laptop and told him to make sure the DVDs and such were still in working condition, Michiro blindly complied and left the room with the box.

"…Why did you even have that box of stuff, Jun?" Shito asked. "I didn't think you were a porn kind of guy."

"With some of Nakumori's underlings still wandering around, I couldn't allow any of those tapes to end up on the Internet." Jun said. "So I had one of Yoshimura's men to collect Nakumori's collection."

"Ew, he's such a creep." Shito shivered. "I honestly hope none of that shit gets leaked."

"Either way, would you boys rather head home now?" Yoshimura asked the Nishiura team. "Just listening to all this nonsense has probably bored you all by now."

"Err, well…" Hanai looked to the rest of the team, all standing around the room obviously uncomfortable. "I mean, it's probably just me, but I was wondering if we could get a take of what happened from Mihashi himself."

"If Miha ran for the hills when we wanted to show you his tats, he'll flee the country before he breathes a word of what happened to you guys!" Michiro shouted from the other room. "I'm just saying!"

"Then we'll just have to wait then!" Abe shouted back. "Sheesh."

"Though if all we can do is wait, then I guess we should get going." Sakaeguchi said. "We wouldn't want to intrude for too long."

"Do you guys need a ride home?" Tat asked. "I could give you a ride in my van."

"Nah, our bikes are still waiting for us at school." Hanai said. "We'll just walk back."

"Alright." Shito said, giving them a smile. "I guess we'll see you tomorrow then, since it's obvious we'll be accompanying Miha to practice—" A loud slam came from the front of the house, and Mihashi's voice rang through the air.

"Yoshimura!" he exclaimed, carrying three bags of groceries and panting heavily from running. "Yoshimura, I swear to God please tell me you know Maru's location."

"You mean Marukizawa?" Yoshimura asked. "Honestly… we had him when we seized the warehouse, but he disappeared. Why?"

With his chest heaving, Mihashi put down the grocery bags and pulled out a dark red collar with a silver tag reading 'Mutt' out of his pocket. He tossed it to Yoshimura, who looked shocked at the strip of leather.

"There was an attempted robbery at the store a few minutes before I got there." Mihashi said. "I found that at the scene, and judging by the wounds the robber sustained, Maru's in the area. And he's angry."

* * *

**-coughcough- Maru's my favorite -coughcough-**

**Next Chapter is in Progress (I was really late with updating this time around)**

**Reviews are well-appreciated**


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning for violence and deliberate endangerment. **

* * *

"…Who's 'Maru'?" Izumi asked after a long period of silence. The housemates flinched and swallowed nervously.

"Maru Marukizawa," Shito said, "known as 'Mutt' by the man who owned him. He wasn't in the Ring, but that man was a friend of Nakumori's and was the one to handle his dirty work, namely kidnapping and murder. Maru is just a kid, younger than us even. But he's been trained to kill. He's an assassin."

"And for a kid, he was damn good at his job." Ruki added. "Nobody even went near the kid when he and his 'master' came to visit. He was a complete animal, everyone was afraid of him. I mean, they had good reason to, the damage Maru could deal out was just… gruesome."

"Granted he was dangerous, but there was no real reason to be afraid of him." Michiro said, coming in from the other room. His expression was serious, which wasn't something was group was used to seeing.

"Are you fucking serious?!" Tat asked in disbelief. "The kid was insane!"

"In case you guys forget," Michiro crossed his arms, "which I'm sure you don't, Maru is _just a kid_. Angel and I can vouch for the fact that if you stop avoiding him and actually show him a little kindness, he's harmless!"

"Doesn't change the fact he can cut a man's jugular vein with his own fingernails." Jun said. "We were allowed to be afraid of what he could do."

"Yeah, well now you guys are gonna have to suck it up and grow a pair because we're going to be the ones in charge of catching him." Michiro said, turning to Yoshimura. "Right?"

"Well… the fact he's in the area is very alarming for the most part." The detective answered. "However, since we don't know just _where_ in the area he is, there's nothing else we can do at the moment. If anything, once we spot him, you guys might have to at least help us catch him."

"I figured…but with Momoe on our side, that won't be so hard." Michiro smirked. "Just call us whenever you spot him."

"Wait, what's Momoe got to do with this?" Ruki raised an eyebrow.

"You'll know it when you see it." Michiro said, skipping back to the other room. "In the meantime, I better go get Tajima so you guys can head home~" The Nishiura team flinched and quickly glanced around the room, now noticing that the cleanup hitter was missing. But… Just what was he doing in the other room with Michiro?!

"So you'll be coming by practice tomorrow right?" the team could hear the hyperactive hitter whispering.

"Well no shit, I'd never leave a bro hanging." Michiro laughed, and escorted Tajima back into the room.

"Michiro—" Jun was about to ask what was on everyone's mind, before the redhead leapt onto him, toppling them both onto the floor.

"Yes Jun~?" Michiro asked, straddling the older boy's hips, mentally prepared to avoid whatever questions his boyfriend was bound to ask him, mainly by means of seduction, as per usual. Jun sighed; he already knew he probably wouldn't get an answer out of him until much later in the evening.

"Never mind." He said. "Get off of me."

"No~" Michiro wrapped his arms around the older boy's neck and snuggled underneath his chin.

"Tajima—" Hanai started towards the cleanup hitter, but the short fourth batter was immediately headed out the door.

"Come on guys I think we might have overstayed our welcome let's go get our bikes!" he said in a single breath, and was sprinting down the road before the team started after him.

"God dammit, you get back here!" Hanai exclaimed, leading the team out and back towards the school. "You've got some explaining to do!"

Once they were gone, Mihashi sighed.

"I'll get dinner ready." The pitcher dragged the grocery bags into the kitchen. Shito followed him, offering to help, while Michiro got up off of Jun to inquire about what was to eat for that night.

"Did your superiors say anything of significance during your call, Yoshimura-san?" Jun asked, standing and dusting himself off.

"Not in regards to your case, no." Yoshimura answered. "They just reminded me of some other things I needed to handle later on this week. But if anything, they'll handle everything in regards to your enrollment plans; I imagine all you have to do is take an entrance exam and purchase a uniform. I'm sure we can negotiate something in regards to your tattoos."

"I'll make sure we comply with any conditions they set for us." Jun nodded. "We don't want any trouble or unnecessary attention, after all. Not with some of those thugs still loose."

"Other than that, there's nothing else to discuss—oh, Ruki, a moment alone please." Yoshimura looked to the older teen and Jun and Tat quickly left them alone to speak, deciding to head upstairs until dinner was ready. "Can I ask about your request to halt the search for any extended family you may have?"

"I just don't think they'll want to house a kid who was a whore for five years." Ruki said. "So don't bother them. I'll be fine on my own."

"We have to at least let them know you're still alive." Yoshimura said.

"Then tell them that." Ruki said. "Just don't come asking me to stop by and visit, because I'm not doing that shit."

Yoshimura assumed that there was an underlying reason in regards to why Ruki was so adamant to not seeing what was left of his family, but didn't press on any further. Ruki was very strong, but Yoshimura wasn't afraid of his physical strength; it was the idea of touching a sore nerve and causing his strong will to crack that he would rather avoid. As one of the elder boys, Ruki could have a great effect on the rest of the group if he became angered or distraught. Especially towards Shito, since the boy was already enrolled in weekly therapy sessions for the abuse he had suffered through. He didn't need any breakdowns from stress or because one of the others couldn't hold their own.

"Alright." Yoshimura backed off that subject and chose to depart at that time. He let the boys know that he'd call with the day that they'd be taking the entrance exam for Nishiura, as well as what they'd need to purchase in preparation for their first day. He left the house quickly and jumped in his car, heading off to his office to see what other piles of work awaited him. However as he drove, he couldn't help but wonder just what was going to happen to those five boys. From any person's point of view, their problems seemed endless and there didn't appear to be any hope for them. But there they were, working as hard as they could to regain the lives that they lost. Their resilience was actually quite admirable.

It was pretty late at night when Yoshimura pulled into his driveway, grateful to be somewhere he knew was safe and where a warm bed and loving wife awaited him. He knew his daughter Mariko was sleeping at this late hour, but the detective wondered if his wife was possibly awake. There was the rare occasion that she would stay up to wait for him to get home when he was able to call ahead of time. Though nowadays with her being pregnant with their second child, and the fact he hadn't had that kind of time to call over the past several hours, the chances of her being awake at this hour was highly unlikely. But hey, a man can hope for the best, can't he?

Of course he can. However, when Yoshimura made his way into the house and upstairs to climb into bed with his beautiful wife, he could _only_ hope for the best when he stepped into the bedroom. The light was on. His wife was situated neatly in bed, already in her second trimester of pregnancy. And there was a man standing beside her, holding a gun to her head.

Yoshimura would have stood frozen in fear and in panic had he not already reached for and pulled out his own pistol, aiming it towards the stranger. He silently took a step forward, and the man nudged the barrel of the gun to his wife's temple. Yoshimura stood firmly in place. He glanced over the man's appearance before settling on his face. He recognized this man. This man had originally worked for Nakumori. And now…

"A little late to be visiting, don't you think?" he asked in a single breath.

"Cut the small talk." The man said gruffly. "I've got something you want and you got something I want. All I'm askin' for is a trade."

"What do you want?" Yoshimura asked. The man chuckled.

"It's simple." He said. "You give me the location of Nakumori's favorites, and I let you keep your wife and the baby in her stomach. Sound fair?"

Yoshimura narrowed his eyes. If he was looking for those five boys, then that meant that someone was trying to recreate what Nakumori had initially developed. And while Yoshimura couldn't allow those boys to lose the new lives they hadn't even begun… he couldn't risk his wife and unborn child. As his grip tightened around the gun in his hand, he could feel himself start to tremble, and the man laughed.

"C'mon detective, it ain't so hard." He said. "Just tell me where those little shits are hiding and I'll be on my way. And I'll never come back to threaten your pretty little wife and unborn baby again."

As he said this, he began to approach the frozen detective; a manic grin spread across his face.

"What?" he asked. "You can't decide between a bunch of whores and your own family?!"

Yoshimura didn't have time to answer before gunshots rang out, along with the shattering of glass, and screams from everyone but himself. A shot of pain exploded in his leg, and he was down before he even felt the searing agony from the bullet in his leg. But he disregarded the pain once he felt it, looking up to check on his wife. The room was dark now that the lamp had been knocked out of the way and ripped from the socket. Before him stood a young boy, the evening moonlight only allowing bleached white hair to shine and sharp light blue eyes to stare down at him. The detective recognized him immediately, but upon blinking once, the boy was gone.

"…Maru?" Yoshimura breathed, before snapping back to reality. "Reiko! Reiko, are you alright?!" He tried jumping up from the floor but was slammed back down by not only his injured leg, but by tripping over the dead body of the man who had threatened his family.

"I'm fine Kento." Yoshimura Reiko answered, still in bed but with her own gun in hand. "I'm pretty sure he won't be getting back up for a while."

"Wait, you shot at him?" Yoshimura asked, finding his wife in the dark and cupping her cheeks. She nodded.

"I waited until he was far enough away from me, as he was focused on you, to get my backup from the nightstand and shoot him in the back." She answered. "Why?"

"…I think you might've shot me too." Yoshimura didn't want to laugh, but just the idea of the truth of the matter seemed so ironic. "In the leg."

"But I only fired one shot!" Reiko exclaimed, in worry about her husband's injury. "How could I have hit you and him?"

Yoshimura fell silent at this. Having heard the glass of the window break, and seeing that child's silhouette after the shots had been fired, the detective easily put two and two together. But he couldn't talk about that now, because for one thing, he was bleeding profusely, and for another thing, he had to check on his daughter.

"Call an ambulance." He said. "And the police. They'll take the body away and cart me off to get my leg fixed. I'll check on Mariko."

Reiko only nodded at this, for her husband's expression clearly showed that he knew what was really going on, and she didn't have to question what he said. Pulling out her cellphone as he limped out of the room, she dialed for help.

Yoshimura was extremely glad that Mariko had stayed in her room throughout this entire ordeal; not a hair on her head had been hurt whatsoever, but he did find her crying in her room. The gunshots had woken her and scared her terribly, and the fact her father was injured didn't help.

"I-Is Mommy hurt too?" Mariko asked. Yoshimura shook his head.

"Mommy is safe and sound, okay?" he said, kissing her forehead. "A doctor and the police are going to be coming here shortly to make sure everything's okay, so try to go back to sleep. You have school in the morning."

"B-But… But I wanna see Mommy." She sniffled. Yoshimura smiled softly and brushed some hair out of her face.

"Okay, you can stay with Mommy until the doctor comes." He said, before realizing the next predicament. "…But you're probably going to have to stay with someone while we're both being treated… With Mommy being pregnant, everyone's going to worry about the baby… But we'll figure something out. Come on, let's go see Mommy."

While Yoshimura would have loved to carry his teary-eyed daughter to where his wife sat, he found that he couldn't with his injured leg. So Mariko held his hand as they walked down the hall to their room, and she let out a short scream at the sight of the man's corpse on the floor.

"It's okay sweetie, come to Mommy." Reiko caught her daughter's attention immediately to prevent her from focusing on the dead stranger.

"Did you call an ambulance?" Yoshimura asked. She nodded as Mariko ran to her.

"They'll be here soon." She said; Mariko climbed onto the bed beside her and rubbed her enlarged stomach as if to comfort the baby inside. "But what are we going to do about Mariko? I don't think my sister is even awake at this hour."

"…I have an idea." Yoshimura said after taking a moment to think. "Pass me your phone."

Once with the phone in hand, Yoshimura dialed Mihashi's house. He knew one of the boys had to be awake for some reason or another, because that had frequently been the case when they had lived with him for the while. The phone rang for a while before someone answered.

"Mihashi residence, Shito speaking." Shito answered, not sounding the slightest bit sleepy.

"Hey, it's me." Yoshimura said, to which he heard Shito stifle a laugh.

"Don't sound like a creeper at three in the morning dude." He said. "Totally weird. But enough of that, you don't normally call at three a.m. Has something happened?"

"Well…" Yoshimura sighed. "Yeah, something has happened… and both Reiko and I need to head to the hospital, so I was wondering if you could come by to get Mariko for the night—"

"I'm bringing the van, give me five minutes." Shito interrupted him and hung up quickly before the detective had the chance to explain the situation entirely. But he understood that he'd be worried. All five of them grew quite fond of Mariko during their stay; she was almost like a little sister to them. And the idea of her or 'Miss Reiko', as they called his wife, ever getting hurt just seemed unfathomable. At least that meant that he'd get there and be responsible for Mariko until the two were discharged from the hospital. He could trust him.

When Shito arrived at the house, which was less than five minutes since he had hung up the phone, the house was still quiet and dark. The ambulance and police still had yet to arrive. Bounding up the stairs, the brunette slid into the open doorway of Yoshimura's bedroom, now properly lit upon plugging the lamp back in, but before he could say a word, his eyes fell on the dead man on the floor.

And he screamed.

He only screamed once as he fell back onto the floor and backed into the opposite wall. His violet eyes were wide and he visibly shook, seeing as he had recognized this man just as Yoshimura had. The detective stood from the bed, his good leg stressing under the weight of his entire body, and he stepped over to the door.

"It's alright, Shito." He said. "He's gone; he can't hurt you."

"Shito, dear." Reiko called from her spot, straightening up to try to see out of the door. "Come inside, it's okay." Shito immediately leapt into the room and over to Miss Reiko's side. He was on the verge of tears out of fear, and she reached out to run a hand through his hair.

"Don't cry sweetie, it's okay." She said. Mariko peered over her mother's stomach to witness large tears trickle down from the boy's rare eyes. The young girl, at only 7 years old, reached down to take Shito's hand. She placed it on her mother's stomach, where they all felt a kick.

"It's okay, Shito nii-chan." She said. "He didn't hurt the baby, see?"

Shito focused his attention on the little kicks he felt coming from the new baby, and a great relief washed over him, just knowing that they were okay. He sniffled a bit before they all heard sirens outside.

"Finally." Yoshimura sighed, heading out the door. "I'll send the paramedics up here so they can get you to the hospital."

"I'm fine, Kento, you're the one who's wounded." Reiko said, but Yoshimura was already headed down the hall, disregarding her calls. She sighed. "So stubborn."

"He's just worried about you and the baby…" Shito muttered.

"I know, but he's obviously more hurt than I am." Reiko answered. "Though I guess he's just the kind of man who puts his family first."

As the paramedics and police made their way upstairs to retrieve Yoshimura Reiko and the body of their assailant, Shito couldn't help but stare at the corpse. Just months previous, he could remember this man, as well as many others, treating him like property, like a slave for their own amusement. The scars on his mind still had yet to heal from all the abuse, but the boy's heart still felt somewhat at ease now that he was dead. But as he stared on at the body, he noticed the gunshot wound where Miss Reiko had shot him. It was an okay place to be shot, but it was the kind of wound that wouldn't have been fatal. So it wasn't the bullet that killed him…

But if that was true, what _had_?

* * *

**Chapter 10 of Angel Tears! Wow, double digits already!**

**My apologies for having to update so late. With it being the end of the school year, all the teachers are trying to cram in last minute lessons and tests. Bluh.**

**Reviews are well-appreciated, Chapter 11 in the works!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Warning for slight violence/assassination attempt.**

* * *

When Shito pulled back into the house an hour after being called, after seeing off Mr. Yoshimura, his wife, and the corpse of that evil man, everything seemed peaceful and quiet outside. But when he unlocked the door to let himself inside, he came face to face with angry expressions.

"Where have you been?" Mihashi asked first. Shito glanced around at each of his housemates before sighing.

"Yoshimura called last night." He said. "…One of Nakumori's men came to his house and—" Shito was interrupted by being slammed into the nearest wall by Michiro, who grabbed him by the shirt collar and lifted him up.

"What time did he call?" he barked. "Where are they now?"

"Chill Michi, Miss Reiko already did him in when I got there." Shito said, visibly trembling but trying to keep his voice strong. "And Mariko's fine, see, she's right here."

"Michi nii-chan!" Mariko appeared in the doorway with a bulging pink backpack on her back. "Lookie, I came to visit!"

"Mari!" Michiro dropped Shito immediately and dove to hug the young girl, picking her up in his arms. "Thank God you're alright, are you alright, tell me if you're alright."

"I'm alright, Michi nii-chan!" Mariko giggled. "And Mommy and Daddy are too, but they had to go to the doctors' to make sure they're super alright. Daddy got hurt in his leg and he said the doctors might be worried about the baby, so he called Shito nii-chan to come pick me up!"

"He's hurt?" Jun asked.

"Yeah, shot in the leg." Shito said, rubbing his neck to make sure he was still breathing. "But they don't know who shot him, his wife or… the man who broke in."

"Well if Miss Reiko did it, it would be an accident." Ruki said. "But only they know the details."

"I don't think Mommy did that." Mariko said from over Michiro's shoulder. "She said that maybe it was the bad guy. Or, or maybe it was the other guy!"

"Other guy?" the group asked. Mariko nodded.

"What other guy was there, Mari?" Michiro asked quietly.

"He was a super hero!" she beamed. "I mean, he kinda looked like one to me. He had white hair and pretty blue eyes, and he was really nice too."

"White…" Michiro looked back to the group. "Guys… are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Unfortunately." Ruki said, crossing his arms.

"…Angel, when you go to practice this morning, tell Tajima I'll give him his DVDs later today." Michiro said, lifting Mariko onto his shoulders before striking a determined pose. "Cause we're going to go visit Yoshi-san! We gotta know what happened this morning, without fail!"

"But we don't even know if they're allowing visitors for them." Jun said. "They were admitted early this morning and the time it'll take for any damage to be evaluated and treated is undetermined at any time."

"Party pooper." Michiro muttered. "We could at least—"

"Besides, Mariko has to go to school." Shito interrupted. "Right Mari?"

"Yep." Mariko nodded. "Mommy made sure I brought my backpack with all my stuff in it!"

"Aw." Michiro groaned. "That means no field trip."

"You guys could always go once Mariko's out of school for the day." Mihashi said. "You guys can pick her up and take her to visit her parents."

"Okay!" Michiro beamed, taking a moment to put Mariko back to ground level. "So here's the day: we drop Mari off at school, chill at home 'til we got to pick up Mari, then go and see Yoshi-san and Miss Reiko at the hospital! Then when that's done, if neither of them can be sent home yet, Mari can stay with us for awhile!"

"Sounds like a plan." Tat said. "I'll dri—"

"_I'll_ do the driving," Jun cut him off, "since we'll be having Mariko in the car."

"Hey! I'm the one with the actual license!" Tat exclaimed. "So Miha fell out of my car _one time_, that doesn't mean— are you listening to me?!"

"No, not really." Jun answered before turning to Mariko. "Mari, what time does school start for you?"

"My school starts at eight!" Mariko smiled. "And I did all my homework yesterday, so I'm all ready to go when you guys are!"

"Oh no you're not!" Michiro exclaimed. "You need a lunch! I call making Mari lunch!" With that, he ran into the kitchen. "I'm going to make the cutest lunch you ever seen!"

"Is that okay with you, Mari?" Shito asked. Mariko nodded.

"Michi nii-chan's lunches are yummy." She said. "I don't mind. Maybe he could make some snacks for Mommy and Daddy too for when we go visit them!" A dramatic gasp could be heard from the kitchen and the clanging of pots and pans could be heard.

"That's a great idea! I know just what to make!" Michiro said. "I know Miss Reiko loves chocolate, I mean, who _doesn't_ like chocolate, so I nice little cake to make her feel better is just what we need! Ah crap, Yoshi ain't one for sweets, so what should I make him? Hmmm….."

The group laughed at Michiro's excited antics and all decided to eat breakfast together. Michiro was insistent on his little 'schedule' for the group, and Mihashi didn't particularly disagree with his plan. As long as they stayed out of trouble and out of his hair, he was fine with it.

Though he should've anticipated that sometimes trouble just comes looking for them.

Mihashi saw them off after a large breakfast, and promptly headed to practice for that morning. He didn't want to ask what kind of DVDs Michiro had promised Tajima, but the red head had requested that he tell the cleanup hitter that he'd be late with the possible pornography, so Mihashi would comply just to keep the cross-dresser from whining.

Practice went on as normal; with the team trying to interrogate Tajima on just what kind of DVDs Michiro would be delivering to him later on that day and the cleanup hitter just laughing it off. Coach Momoe worked them particularly hard that morning, since the group had to miss practice the night before, so once it was time to pack up and head to the school, the entire team, save for Mihashi, left with a relieved sigh.

The reason Mihashi stayed behind for a moment, however, was one he knew was only going to bring him trouble. He sat in the dugout with a sandwich in hand. He had the feeling this meeting would be coming.

"Been awhile, hasn't it Maru?" he asked as a young boy with white hair and blue eyes appeared on the bench beside him. The boy said nothing, but eyed the sandwich insistently.

"Have you been behaving?" Mihashi asked, unwrapping the sandwich from the plastic it was in. He could hear Maru's stomach growling as the boy nodded, and Mihashi raised an eyebrow. "Have you really?" Maru paused before shaking his head. Mihashi tore off a piece of the sandwich and fed Maru from his hand. Positive reinforcement for his honesty: that always worked to get the truth out of him.

"So did you do anything yesterday?" Mihashi asked. Maru nodded.

"Did you go to see Yoshimura-san?" Maru nodded, earning another piece. "What did you do?"

Maru was silent, but raised his head to make eye contact with the pitcher.

"Maru… did you kill that man in Yoshimura's house?" Mihashi asked. Maru nodded, and Mihashi tore off half of what was left of the sandwich, but held it away from the boy when he lunged for it. "Tell me why, Maru. With words."

Maru froze with his arm extended in the direction of the food, but quickly moved back to a proper sitting position on the bench.

"…Girl." He said quietly. "…Girl there… say scared. And… Mama… Mama… have baby…"

"Come on, Maru, I know you can tell me in a full sentence." Mihashi said. "You don't get the sandwich unless you do—"

"She asked me to!" Maru exclaimed. "To protect her Mommy and Daddy, to save them, she asked me to!"

"So what happened?" Mihashi asked. "Tell me everything."

"I…" Maru's lips pressed together tightly and he looked away, showing Mihashi he had no desire of recounting yet another death that he had caused. Mihashi sighed.

"I guess that's all I'm getting out of you." He said, handing the boy both halves of the sandwich, which he devoured immediately. "So what are you doing here?"

"…Mama…" Maru mumbled, and the blonde didn't need any further explanation. Maru was looking for his mother. But the pitcher knew he wouldn't find her anywhere in Saitama, so he was ultimately searching for Yoshimura, who might have some sort of clue as to where his mother had ended up. They all knew she was alive, though, because there had been instances where they either spotted her or were actually able to speak with her. Maru was just searching in all the wrong places.

"Well he's in the hospital right now, so you'll have to wait before you can ask." Mihashi said. "In the meantime, though, what are you going to be doing?"

"…Hiding…" Maru muttered. "From… from the bad men…"

"You mean they've been following you?" Mihashi asked. Maru nodded.

"They… want Kitty…" he said. Kitty was what he called Michiro, since his codename was 'Kitten'. Mihashi narrowed his eyes. Nakumori's men were looking for them.

"Are they following you now?" the pitcher asked, looking around at the field. Maru shook his head.

"Lost…"

"Good, that means you can go see Michiro in the meantime." Mihashi said, pulling out his phone. "But don't let any of the others see you. It might be for the best that you aren't caught just yet, you know what I'm saying?" Maru nodded.

"Wait… a little…" he continued to nod. "And see Kitty."

"Yeah, he'll feed you back at the house, but not much or else the guys will notice." Mihashi said, sending a text to Michiro before standing up and grabbing his things. "You know where to go, right? You can just sniff him out?" Maru nodded and got off the bench as well, though he remained crouched on the ground, positioned like a dog. Mihashi pet his head for a moment before leaving the dugout. And when he looked back, Maru was gone.

(-)

When Mariko's school let out, Shito explained the situation and had the receptionist at the nearby hospital confirm it to the teacher in order for the group to take Mari without suspicion. Jun and Tat sat in the driver and passenger seats in the car, while the others sat in the back seats of the van, and together they headed for the hospital.

Just about a mile away from the hospital, the van was stopped by a police checkpoint, which was strange seeing as Jun always had the police reports on the radio when he drove, and there wasn't a single mentioning of a police checkpoint or any reason for it. When an 'officer' with his face covered with goggles and a facemask, came up to the car, Shito noticed his buddies surrounding the car with guns in hand, but held low to avoid Jun and Tat's line of sight. As Jun reached for the button to let the window down, Shito shouted.

"Don't open it!" he exclaimed, pulling two handles under the front seats to pull them back as the 'officer's cohorts raised their weapons. "Everyone get down!"

Gunshots rang out rapidly, causing every one of the windows of the van to shatter. Jun and Tat fell back away from the shots, and Ruki shielded Mariko as they lay on the floor of the van. Jun slammed his foot on the gas to speed off away from them, and sat up quickly once bullets stopped flying.

Thankfully, they each made it to the hospital in one piece, but Mariko was crying terribly. For the second time that day, she came close to death, and she was absolutely terrified. Michiro carried her in his arms, her small body trembling as she sniffled into his shirt. At this point in time, Yoshimura was still unable to have any visitors, but Miss Reiko was simply resting in a room, and the group was permitted to see her.

The moment they stepped into the room, Mariko leaped from Michiro's arms and ran to her mother. She clung to her and continued to cry, and Miss Reiko looked to the boys, her concern obvious on her face.

"What happened—?"

"We were attacked."

* * *

**-DRAMATIC MUSIC- Part 11 of Angel Tears!**

**Due to me graduating within the next week, I might not be getting the next part in for awhile, but who knows, maybe I'll get really lucky.**

**Reviews are appreciated!**


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